This
run-of-the-mill survivalist horror entry from Indonesia is proof that
globalization is indeed a threat to regional filmmaking. Still, it features
enough action and bloodletting to keep any horror fan interested until the end,
although many of them won’t be able to refrain from constantly checking out the
clock on their DVD player as the narrative sluggishly unfolds.
I think I
speak for everyone when I say that Macabre’s
plot can be accurately predicted from watching the box art alone. Having a
strange-looking woman wielding a fork sunk into a loose finger isn’t exactly
subtle, right? Well, neither is the film itself. At least, there is no higher
pretension here than to entertain. There is no moralistic “high ground” to be
found, nor any deeper “meaning” about the evils of capitalism. There is only a
bunch of college kids (what else?) getting trapped in an old country house
(where else?) by a family of flesh-eating weirdos (whom else?). That’s the gist
of it. And while the film does involve some peripheral plot points about the
rejuvenating power of human flesh, it very much walks along the dotted line
inherited from decades of similar horror efforts. Hence, you don’t run the risk
of being surprised over the course of the narrative. Not ever.
This happy crew of archetypes
is driving right to the abattoir.
As is the
case with almost every single survivalist horror entry starring a bunch of
expendable college kids, nothing happens in the first half hour. Nothing at
all. There’s no real exposition or characterization to speak of, because every
single character is an archetype. There’s the horny guy, the short-tempered
guy, the repressed beauty, and so on. The first half hour is merely a set-up
for things to come. Here, the vacationing characters are lured into a secluded
country house by a seductive young woman who claims to have been robbed by
ruffians. Once there, they are invited to dinner, during which they are drugged
and sequestrated. There IS a short prelude to all of this, a series of 8 mm
images featuring a family feasting on what is certainly human flesh. Judging
from the apparent age of these images, and the youthful appearance of the weird
hosts, we can only infer that the consumption of human flesh has somehow slowed
their aging process, an assumption that is validated when the matriarch of the
group claims to be much older than she appears. All of this is later explicitly
confirmed, but at that point, you won’t care and will want to get on with the
butchery instead
Luckily,
the dreary first half-hour of runtime gives way to a somewhat exhilarating last hour full
of bloodletting. In fact, the film only seems to come alive in that last hour,
as the direction tightens by drawing on the action film arsenal. All of a
sudden, we get canted shots, shaky shots, fake split screens, contrapuntal
sound, POV shots, alternated editing, and depth of field starts playing a
crucial role, especially in those many “chainsaw cam” shots where the rotating
weapon is shown in the foreground of a nasty POV shot, plunging into the soft
flesh of the expendable heroes. Everything suddenly becomes more dynamic, as if
the directors had suddenly woken from a deep slumber and finally decided to
shoot a film. Why they were satisfied with such a drab, eventless opening
remains a mystery, but at least they eventually made some efforts to create a
somewhat exciting film.
The "chainsaw cam" is not a novelty per se,
but it greatly helps dynamize the film.
Of course,
we’ve seen it all before: good-looking youths are chased by chainsaw-wielding
maniacs in a series of bland decors until they regroup and use the weapons at
their disposal to exert their own brand of retaliatory violence. As expected,
they can’t manage to find a way out of the house, even though it is immense and
full of potential exits. As expected, a handful of policemen eventually get
involved, but they are revealed as bumbling incompetents who merely add to the
body count. Fortunately, the brutality, and variety of the violence onscreen
and the sheer amount of bloodletting more than compensates for the overwhelming
use of common grounds and general lack of suspense contained within, which
should please any thrill-seeker tuning in solely for the gore.
Amongst all
of this overdetermined bullshit, the film does
contain an intriguing novelty and I must say that it is used to great effect.
You see, since the consumption of human flesh has given all four weirdos
eternal youth, it has also made them supernaturally strong. Hence, they have
much more stamina and endurance than the average psycho. This results in some
really intense, and lengthy fight scenes in which the protagonists must work
together to withstand the numerous hits delivered by the bad guys and to
deliver a copious amount themselves. This makes the overbid of violence that
much more ludicrous and entertaining, with the exhausting battle against Adam
ranking as one of the film’s highlights. I tell you, this battle alone will
give you something to look forward when you are yawning and afraid that your
jaw will fall off.
Superhuman villains make for lengthy fight scenes.
Oh, and you can see the extent of the bloodshed on the walls.
While
totally unoriginal, and anemic from a narrative standpoint, Macabre still gets the job done, by
piling up the kills in a crowd-pleasing way. When the heel of the matriarch’s
shoe sank into the eye socket of a half-dead cop, I couldn’t help but think
about the raucous Fantasia audience. I even heard joyous cheers coming from all
around me. That said, it will not be so hard to precipitate the following
conclusion: if you’d rather remain within the comforting familiarity of genre
staples, and simply enjoy the overbid of gore, then Macabre is right up your alley. If not, then the best you will get
out of it is a mild kick.
