Macabre – Indicator Series (4k UHD)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1980
Director: Lamberto Bava
Writers: Antonio Avati, Pupi Avati, Lamberto Bava, Roberto Gandus
Cast: Bernice Stegers, Stanko Molnar, Veronica Zinny, Roberto Posse, Ferdinando Orlandi, Fernando Pannullo, Elisa Kadigia Bove

Release Date: June 29th, 2026
Approximate Running Times: 90 Minutes 51 Seconds (Italian Theatrical Version), 89 Minutes 51 Seconds (International Theatrical Version, Frozen Terror - Retitled US Version)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10 (All Versions)
Rating: 18 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Italian (Italian Theatrical Version), LPCM Mono English (International Theatrical Version, Frozen Terror - Retitled US Version)
Subtitles: English, English SDH (International Theatrical Version, Frozen Terror - Retitled US Version)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: £24.99

"Traumatised by the deaths of both her son and her lover, Fred (Roberto Posse), Jane (Stegers) retreats to a boarding house run by the blind Robert (Molnar), where she builds a shrine to Fred and passionately calls his name when she is alone in her room. Both Robert and Jane’s daughter Lucy (Veronica Zinny) sense that something strange is going on and begin to investigate her bizarre behaviour..." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (All Versions)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, “Macabro was scanned in 4K Augustus Color in Rome using the original negative. 4K HDR color correction and image restoration work was undertaken at Filmfinity, London, when Phoenix and Diamant image-processing tools were used to remove many thousands of instances of dirt, eliminate scratches and other imperfections, and repair damaged frames. No grain management, edge enhancement, or sharpening tools were employed to artificially alter the image in any way.”

Macabre comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 79.9 GB

Feature: 57.9 GB

Seamless branching is used for the three presentations of the film. The source looks excellent; flesh tones look healthy; colors look correct; image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid; and the image always retains an organic appearance. 

Audio: 5/5 (All Audio Tracks)

The Italian theatrical version comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in Italian with removable English subtitles. The international theatrical version comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in English with removable English SDH and English subtitles for text in Italian. Frozen Terror, the re-titled US release, comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in English with removable English SDH and English subtitles for text in Italian. All tracks sound excellent; dialogue always comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and ambient sounds are well-represented.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an image gallery (34 images—stills/lobby cards/press book/home video art/posters), international theatrical trailer (2 minutes 16 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Italian theatrical trailer (2 minutes 16 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian with removable English subtitles), a Q&A with Lamberto Bava filmed after a Macabre screening at the 2025 World Wide Weird cult-cinema event held in London (58 minutes 46 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English and Italian translated into English), an interview with Pierpaolo De Sanctis the founder of Italian soundtrack specialists Four Flies Records titled Jazzing for a Murder (22 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an appreciation by Italian genre film expert and Macabre aficionado Mark Thompson Ashworth titled Macabre Love (22 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with screenwriter Roberto Gandus titled Danse Macabre (23 minutes 57 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with screenwriter Pupi Avati titled New Orleans Gothic (9 minutes 43 seconds, Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with producer Antonio Avati titled A Head for Producing (18 minutes 7 seconds, Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with director Lamberto Bava titled The Bloody Beginning (17 minutes 6 seconds, Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles),an audio commentary with film historians Eugenio Ercolani, Troy Howarth, and Nathaniel Thompson, and an 80-page book with cast & crew information, an essay titled A Domestic Apocalypse written by Roberto Curti, an archival interview conversation with Lamberto Bava conducted by Alberto Morsiani, an archival interview with Pupi Avati and Antonio Avati conducted by Lorenzo Ricciardi, critical response, and information about the restoration.

Summary:

A middle-aged woman traumatized by the death of her son and her lover moves into a boarding house and creates a shrine for the latter.

Although Lamberto Bava has forged a four-decade career as a director, most of his contemporaries have stopped making films. There’s no denying that it must have been difficult living in the shadow of his father, Mario Bava, Italian cinema’s most celebrated director of horror cinema. Looking over Lamberto Bava’s filmography, there are a few standout films that have held up well over time. His best films are the result of collaborations with other prominent Italian filmmakers. For example, Macabre is a film that stands out in Lamberto Bava’s filmography.

That said, how much of Macabre is due to Lamberto Bava or filmmaker Pupi Avati's creative influence? The idea for Macabre originated with Antonio Avati and Pupi Avati, who then reached out to Lamberto Bava with the idea of directing it. Besides coming up with the idea, there are many elements throughout Macabre that bear a strong resemblance to Pupi Avati’s The House of the Laughing Windows, which ultimately furthers the premise that Lamberto Bava was a director for fire whose contributions to the film were minimal.

While there are many elements in Macabre that are widely associated with horror cinema, it is important to note that the film also incorporates other genres. To simply approach Macabre as a horror film would be doing this film a serious disservice, since the result is something that is closer to a psychological melodrama. Outside of a few moments, like the scenes where the protagonist’s lover's head is decapitated and where she drowns a child in a bathtub, Macabre’s level of carnage is minimal. Fortunately, Macabre is a film that relies heavily on atmosphere.

When discussing a film like Macabre, its taboo subject matter, a deranged love story that involves necrophilia, is front and center. The protagonist, a woman named Jane Baker, procures her deceased lover's severed head and keeps it in a freezer. Although some of the shock derived from its taboo subject matter, it’s rather tame when compared to other similar-themed films that succeeded it, like Nekromantik.

Macabre’s heart and soul are Bernice Stegers’ (Xtro) portrayal of Jane Baker. She delivers an utterly convincing portrayal of a character who’s consumed by obsessive love. Other performances of note are Stanko Molnar in the role of a blind man who runs a boarding house and Veronica Zinny’s (in her one and only role) terrifying portrayal of Jane’s equally demented daughter Lucy. Ultimately, Macabre is an exceptional debut film that set the bar so high that Lamberto Bava never made a better film.

Macabre gets an exceptional release from Powerhouse Films that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a wealth of insightful extras. Highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

Note: Limited edition of 5,000 individually numbered units (4,000 4K UHDs and 1,000 Blu-rays) for the UK.

Written by Michael Den Boer