Film: Macabre
UK Release date: 18th June 2012
UK Distributor: Scanbox
Certificate: 18
Directors: The Mo Brothers
Starring: Shareefa Daanish, Imelda Therrine, Arifin Putra, Julie Estelle, Ario Bayu
Running time: 95 mins
Genre: Horror
Country: Indonesia
Subtitles: English
Reviewer: Adam Wing
It's rare in this day and age for a horror movie to come out
of nowhere and surprise you, but Indonesian splatter fest Macabre (Rumah Dara)
does just that. The first Indonesian film to be banned in Malaysia, Macabre
tells the bloodthirsty tale of cannibalism, immortality and chainsaws. Six
friends head out on a road trip but run into trouble when they meet Maya, a
strange young girl who wanders into their path claiming she's been robbed. Some
of the friends are hesitant at first, but in the end they agree not to leave
her alone in the pouring rain.
If any of this sounds familiar to you, don’t worry - the
opening act of Macabre follows every rule and every horror cliché ever committed
to film. A post modern audience will find it hard to believe that the
characters aren’t more suspicious, but then again, we wouldn’t have a very good
horror movie if they just dropped her off at the door and went about their
business. Stupid characters deserve grisly misfortune, and come the half hour
mark, that’s exactly what they get. Excessively.
They give her a ride to an isolated house (go figure), deep
in the woods (ahem), and once inside - the heavily pregnant girl needs her rest
- Maya introduces them to her courteous mother. Dara is an ageless, almost
robotic presence, determined to cook them a hearty meal by way of thanks for
their kind-heartedness. Some of the friends are hesitant at first (I think we
know where this sentence is headed) but in the end they decide to stay. This is
when the night turns a darker shade of red and the small group of dim-witted
friends find themselves trapped and hunted by Dara and her ‘family’, who have
been raised to eliminate and devour unsuspecting passers-by. Especially
pregnant ones - they’re very much like the pink and blue buttons in Liquorice
Allsorts as it turns out.
Remember that scene in Switchblade Romance where a chainsaw
wielding maniac attacks Marie in the back of a car for near-on five minutes? That’s
what Macabre is like for sixty gut-punching minutes. Mutilation and mayhem make
for good bedfellows and Kimo Stamboel & Timo Tjahjanto are well aware of
that. The order in which the cast member’s die is at times surprising, and the
way in which they’re butchered is mercilessly captivating. Just when you think
they might run out of characters to kill, a police unit turns up and all hell
breaks loose again. The perpetrators are almost impossible to kill, which means
the surviving characters will have to get creative if they’re going to survive
the night, and that they do in a blisteringly brutal finale that really hits
the spot.
It’s not all plain sailing of course. The editing is a
little too choppy at times and budgetary restraints are obvious from the start,
even if the gruesome effects work is faultless throughout. A laboured approach
and dumb cliché ridden characters only serve to frustrate, but all is forgotten
by the time they sit down for their last supper. From here on in Macabre is a
horror enthusiast’s wet dream, overflowing with creative kills, unrecognisable
body horror and gruesome torture sequences. If you’re the kind of person who
likes their movie heroines covered in blood, then look no further; Macabre is
an unapologetic exercise in torture porn excess. Strong performances help - as
does the wide array of household appliances at the perpetrators disposal - but
it’s the relentless bloodlust that hits home hardest.
Reminiscent of French thriller Inside, Macabre is a
surprisingly efficient little horror movie that makes The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre look like a night in with The Brady Bunch. Check in before you get
checked out.
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