Film

Macabre

Name: Macabre
Genre: Horror
Released: 1980
Cast: Bernice Stegers, Stanko Molnar, Veronica Zinny, Roberto Posse, Ferdinando Orlandi

Other titles called Macabre: the 2009 film.

Psychological horror
Very dark

A 1980 Italian horror film about grief, obsession, and the grotesque. Jane Baker, traumatized by her lover's death, takes a room in a New Orleans boarding house where a blind landlord watches her unravel. It's deliberately strange, erotically charged, and deeply uncomfortable—made for people who like their horror psychological and morally murky.

TMDb rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you have a taste for slow, sour gothic dread where the atmosphere matters more than the explanation, and you don't mind a film that lingers in its own wrongness.

Skip it if you want brisk plotting and a clear mystery to solve, since this drifts through long quiet stretches and its logic is more dreamlike than tidy, and its gore can feel abrupt.

What it asks of you: Ninety-one minutes, mostly unhurried, with long silences and a grimy palette; it wants patience more than attention, and it rewards a viewer who doesn't need every thread tied.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Suspiria1977

Dario Argento's masterpiece of colour, sound, and pure dread. If you loved Macabre's European sensibility and sexual anxiety wrapped in supernatural trappings, this is essential. Visual poetry that doesn't explain itself.

But It's more interested in atmosphere and style than plot coherence. The dubbed dialogue can be jarring, and violence against women is central to the narrative.

The Skin I Live In2011

A Spanish film about obsession, bodily transformation, and a man's descent into monstrosity. Like Macabre, it's sexually charged horror that makes you complicit in something you shouldn't want to understand. Genuinely unsettling.

But The twist changes everything, and not everyone finds that satisfying. It's slower-paced than typical thrillers and asks you to sit with discomfort.

Repulsion1965

Catherine Deneuve's portrait of sexual repression and mental breakdown in a London flat. Polanski captures internal horror with the precision Macabre reaches for—reality fracturing under psychological pressure. Claustrophobic and hypnotic.

But Very slow by modern standards. Sexual trauma and body horror throughout. The film doesn't offer catharsis or answers.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Macabre

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Naked Lunch1991

Both use the supernatural and grotesque as a language for internal states that can't be expressed rationally. Both distrust narrative clarity.

David Cronenberg's adaptation of Burroughs—nightmarish, erotic, and uninterested in making sense. It shares Macabre's obsession with bodies, desire, and the impossibility of trusting perception. Both feel like fever dreams disguised as plot.

But Deliberately incoherent. Disturbing imagery of insects and biological horror. You may finish it unsure what you actually watched, and that might be maddening rather than thrilling.

Deep Red1975

Another Argento masterwork: a pianist witnesses a murder and becomes entangled in a giallo mystery. Macabre shares its European sensibility, eroticism, and willingness to let the audience feel morally uncertain about what they're watching.

But Extreme violence, particularly against women. The plot is deliberately convoluted and doesn't fully resolve. Requires patience with style over narrative clarity.

The Wailing2016

A Korean horror film about faith, paranoia, and whether evil is supernatural or human. Like Macabre, it asks what we're actually seeing and whether the protagonist's perspective can be trusted. Builds unbearable tension.

But Nearly three hours long. The ending refuses to provide certainty. Morally ambiguous in ways that frustrate some viewers.

Let's Scare Jessica to Death1971

A woman recovering from a breakdown rents a cottage and descends into paranoia. American, independent, and deeply strange—it shares Macabre's interest in female psychological dissolution and the question of what's real.

But Deliberately low-budget aesthetic. Slow burn with minimal plot. The ending is deliberately unsatisfying.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes1953

An unlikely recommendation: a glossy musical about female desire and predation. Like Macabre, it's interested in women performing sexuality and the violence underneath attraction, just wrapped in gold sequins instead of dread.

But It's a 1950s musical, which may feel far removed from horror. The satire is subtle and needs historical context to land fully.

The Eyes of My Mother2016

A black-and-white American horror film about trauma, captivity, and a woman's slow transformation into something monstrous. Deeply uncomfortable like Macabre, with similar interest in how obsession corrodes the psyche.

But Extremely graphic and disturbing. Very sparse dialogue. Some viewers find it gratuitous rather than meaningful in its violence.

Possession1981

An Andrzej Żuławski film about marital breakdown where the metaphor becomes literal horror. It's European, sexually explicit, and uses supernatural elements to externalize psychological breakdown like Macabre attempts.

But Deliberately chaotic and difficult. The performances are operatic and will feel unhinged to many. The creature effects are intentionally grotesque.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night2014

Both films are interested in female desire and monstrosity occupying the same space. Both use visual atmosphere instead of conventional narrative momentum.

A black-and-white Iranian vampire film that's sensual, strange, and morally inverted. Like Macabre, it eroticizes horror and asks you to sympathize with someone who shouldn't be sympathized with. Beautifully shot and hypnotic.

But Nearly silent with minimal dialogue. The pacing is deliberate to the point of glacial. Vampire mythology is inverted in ways some find pretentious rather than revelatory.

The Honeymoon Killers1970

Both films are interested in how isolation and obsession create a closed world where normal morality stops applying. Both film their couples with strange tenderness.

A low-budget American crime film about two lonely people who become serial killers together. Like Macabre, it treats perverse intimacy and obsession as the film's real subject, not the crimes themselves. Genuinely transgressive in how it makes you care.

But Based on real murders, and refuses to condemn the couple. Grainy, poorly lit, deliberately unglamorous. Some find its moral ambiguity exploitative rather than meaningful.