Film

Macabre

Name: Macabre
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Released: 2009
Cast: Shareefa Daanish, Julie Estelle, Ario Bayu, Arifin Putra, Imelda Therinne

Other titles called Macabre: the 1980 film.

A punishing Indonesian horror film about six friends who pick up a stranger and end up trapped in a house of horrors. Shot with grimy, unflinching brutality, it's less interested in scares than in the slow erosion of hope. For viewers who want their genre films to hurt.

TMDb rating

3.2

If you liked this

A Dark Song2016

A woman hires an occultist for a séance in her isolated home. Like Macabre, it's a chamber piece about desperation and ritual, but trades gore for metaphysical dread and ends with genuine transcendence.

But Slow, meditative, and almost entirely dialogue-driven. If you want momentum, this isn't it.

Martyrs2008

French extremity horror that asks how far suffering can go. Shares Macabre's unflinching approach to human cruelty and its refusal to look away, plus a similar conviction that horror can explore philosophy.

But Genuinely punishing. Some viewers find it exploitative rather than illuminating, and the second half gets abstract in ways that lose people.

Frontier(s)2007

A group trapped in a house run by murderers. French New Extremity like Martyrs, but angrier and more visceral. The setup is nearly identical to Macabre, executed with different aims and a sharper political edge.

But Brutally graphic. The film seems to revel in degradation as much as critique it, which will alienate plenty of thoughtful viewers.

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

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Audition2000

Both understand that horror's power comes from intimacy betrayed. A person you trust becomes the threat. The violence is specific and meticulous rather than frenzied.

A widower auditions actresses for a fake film role to find a girlfriend. Takashi Miike's masterpiece lulls you into one genre, then pivots into precise, deranged torture-horror. Shares Macabre's commitment to physical specificity and the violation of trust, but operates through seduction instead of abduction.

But The tonal whiplash alienates viewers. The second half is extremely graphic with a focus on prolonged suffering that some find sadistic rather than meaningful.

Hostel2006

Backpackers trapped by people who want to hurt them. Eli Roth leans into exploitation more than Macabre does, but both films understand that the real horror is the loss of agency and the machinery of victimhood.

But Often feels like torture-porn justification. The character work is thin, and the political commentary isn't always earned.

Come True2020

A young woman in a sleep study becomes something other. Shares Macabre's sense of bodily violation and helplessness, but through body horror and slow-burn dread rather than direct violence. Visually stunning.

But Very quiet and oblique. Plot clarity isn't the priority, and some find it emotionally distant or pretentious.

Raw2017

A vegetarian girl discovers she craves human flesh at veterinary school. Belgian horror that treats transgression and appetite with seriousness and style. Both films find the grotesque in the intimate and the familiar.

But The cannibal content might feel like a gimmick. It's also frankly sexual in ways some viewers find uncomfortable rather than provocative.

The Wailing2016

A South Korean police mystery-horror hybrid where a village descends into paranoia and violence. Like Macabre, it's interested in how quickly civilized people become savage, and in the gap between what we think we know and what's true.

But Nearly three hours and deliberately withholding. The ending refuses closure, which infuriates people who want answers.

Goodnight Mommy2015

An Austrian film about twin boys and their mother's disturbing transformation after facial surgery. Domestic horror that finds terror in family space. Both films locate evil in unexpected places and people close to home.

But The twist will feel contrived if it doesn't land for you. Some find the child-perspective gimmicky rather than genuinely unsettling.

Martyrs Lane2022

A girl befriends the ghost of a dead girl next door, leading to horrifying revelations about sacrifice and motherhood. British indie that pairs dread with emotional specificity. Both explore how ordinary people rationalize cruelty.

But Lower budget shows, and the mythology gets muddled. Uneven tonal shifts will frustrate viewers who want consistency.

Come and See1985

Both depict the human capacity for cruelty as banal and systematic rather than exceptional. Both refuse to let viewers feel superior to their perpetrators.

A Soviet war film following a boy drawn into the horror of WWII. Not a genre film, but achieves something Macabre aims for: the systematic destruction of human hope and the normalization of atrocity. Haunting, crucial, and impossible to shake.

But Black-and-white, subtitled, and nearly two hours of unrelenting despair. There is no catharsis. The violence is historical and psychological rather than visceral, which some find slower-paced.