36. Elisa Taylor Ursi—not Elise Delong Valadler—in
Anzellotti, Massimo Anzellotti; ChEl: Michele
the script.
Pellegrini; KG: Mario Pizzi; Generator Operator:
37. Pulici and Cacioppo, “Daria Nicolodi: nostra
Roberto Cuccoli. Cast: Bernice Stegers (Jane
signora degli orrori,” .
38. Ibid.
Baker), Stanko Molnar (Robert Duval),
39. Tim Lucas, Mario Bava. All the Colors of the Dark
Veronica Zinny (Lucy Baker), Roberto Posse
(Cincinnati, OH: Video Watchdog, 2007), 009–09.
(Fred Kellerman), Ferdinando Orlandi (Mr.
40. Argento, Paura, 23. See, for instance, the recurring
Wells), Fernando Pannullo (Leslie Baker), Elisa
element of glass objects which the characters inadvertently
smash to pieces shortly before their own violent demise.
Kadigia Bove (Sally). PROD: Gianni Minervini
41. The detail, absent in the script, acts as a symmetrical
and Antonio Avati for A.M.A. Film (Rome);
element with Suspiria (where on the façade of the Tanz
PM: Gianni Amadei; PS: Alessandro Vivarelli;
Academy we had seen a plate celebrating Erasmus of Rot-
PSe: Rosa Mercurio; PA: Francesco Gesualdi;
terdam’s stay).
42. Pugliese, Dario Argento, 6.
ADM: Raffaello Forti; Cashier: Fiorella Bologna.
43. Giovanni Grazzini, “Pregiata macelleria,” Corriere
Country: Italy. Filmed in Gardone Riviera (Bres-
della Sera, February 8, 980.
cia, Lombardy) and Crespi d’Adda (Bergamo,
44. Tullio Kezich, Il nuovissimo Millefilm. Cinque anni
Lombardy) and on location in New Orleans.
al cinema, 1977–1982 (Milan: Mondadori, 983), 20.
Running time: 89 minutes (m. 2448). Visa n.
45. “Un brivido che si chiama Argento.”
46. Mereghetti, “Dario Argento: per fare paura ha usato
74887 (3.27.980); Rating: V.M.4. Release dates:
anche Verdi.”
4.7.980 (Italy), 0.4.980 (Spain), .3.98
47. Pulici and Cacioppo, “Daria Nicolodi: nostra signora
(France), .27.98 (West Germany), 0.28.983
degli orrori,” .
(USA; Canada); Distribution: Medusa Dis-
48. The box- office data of about a billion and a half lire
refer to the grosses in the first- run theaters of the 6 “capo-
tribuzione (Italy), Les Filmes Jacques Leitienne
zona” cities (Ancona, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Flo-
(France), Cinefrance (West Germany), FVI
rence, Genoa, Messina, Milan, Naples, Padua, Palermo,
(USA). Domestic gross: approx. 60,000,000 lire.
Rome, Turin, Trieste, Venice), that is, the major cities in-
Also known as: The Frozen Terror (USA), Baiser
cluded in the “Borsa Film” in the Giornale dello Spettacolo.
macabre (France), Macabro—Die Küsse der Jane
As for the overall grosses, according to Franco Montini,
Inferno grossed 4, billion lire overall. Franco Montini, “La
Baxter (West Germany).
fortuna al box office,” in Vito Zagarrio (ed.), Argento vivo.
Note: the song “Jane in Love” is performed
Il cinema di Dario Argento tra genere e autorialità (Venice:
by Gil Ventura (E.M.I. records)
Marsilio, 2008), 66.
New Orleans. Jane Baker, a married woman
49. According to the official ministerial data, it was seen
by 2,42 spectators and grossed an amount corresponding
with two children, has an affair with another
to 88,86 Euro. (http:// infoicaa. mecd. es/ CatalogoICAA/
man, Fred Kellerman. When her elder daughter
Peliculas/ Detalle?Pelicula= 394).
Lucy discovers it, she drowns her little brother in
50. Nina Danton, “Inferno: mythic horror tale,” New
the bathtub and then calls her mother for help.
York Times, August , 986.
While Jane and Fred are driving home, they have
51. “I don’t know why. It’s a mystery. It’s incredible,
working with the studios. Every stupid person arrives with
a terrible car accident in which the man is decap-
an opinion; they start every sentence with, ‘For me… ’ And
itated. One year later, Jane moves to the place
I don’t care what they think, I don’t care about ‘For you… ’
where she used to meet her lover. The house is
That’s not the way I work.” Maitland McDonagh, Broken
owned by a blind young man, Robert Duval, who
Mirrors/Broken Minds. The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento
(London: Sun Tavern Fields, 99), 236.
lives alone with his elderly mother. Robert, who
52. Argento, Paura, 23.
is in love with Jane, starts hearing weird noises
53. Ibid., 238.
coming from the woman’s apartment, and decides
to investigate. Little by little, he discovers a
Macabro (Macabre, a.k.a. The Frozen Terror)
horrible truth: Jane keeps Fred’s severed head in
D: Lamberto Bava. S and SC: Pupi Avati,
the fridge and uses it as a sex fetish…
Roberto Gandus, Lamberto Bava, Antonio
“Why don’t you pay us a visit?” the man on
1980: Macabro 3
the other end of the line asked. “We have an
Even though the theme of necrophilia re-
offer for you, you know?” When Lamberto Bava
calls two milestones of Italian Gothic such as
was summoned to the office of the Avati broth-
Riccardo Freda’s L’orribile segreto del Dr.
ers, sometime in Summer 979, he was an expe-
Hichcock (962) and Mario Bava’s Lisa e il diavolo
rienced assistant director. At 3, he had learned
(973), Macabro depicts a pathological case that
the craft with his father, whom he assisted since
has nothing to do with the grand excesses of tra-
the mid–960s, and had worked with the likes
dition. It is indeed macabre, as the title suggests,
of Aristide Massaccesi (on Sollazzevoli storie di
but also squalid and repellent, closer to the
mogli gaudenti e mariti penitenti, 972, and
antics later depicted graphically in Nekromantik
Pugni, pirati e karaté, 973), Mario Lanfranchi
(987, Jörg Buttgereit) than to the delirious,
(on Il bacio, 974) and Ruggero Deodato (on Ul-
dreamlike mood of Freda and Bava’s films.
timo mondo cannibale, 977, L’ultimo sapore del-
Moreover, Macabro develops the Gothic tale no
l’aria, 978, and Cannibal Holocaust, to be re-
longer in a mythical dimension, but in a domes-
leased early in 980), and he had just finished
tic one, as with Shock (977). In a way, the film
working with Dario Argento on Inferno. “I was
can be also seen as a late appendix and, in some
very happy, and told myself, ‘Gee, how I’d like
respects, a compendium of themes explored
to be Pupi Avati’s assistant… ’”
in the “Female Gothic” works of the previous
At Avati’s office, Pupi and Antonio showed
&n
bsp; decade,7 but the mentally unstable Jane Baker
him an American newspaper clip about a woman
recalls Daria Nicolodi’s character in the 977
who had killed her lover and kept his head in the
film rather than the disturbed ladies (in black
fridge. “Will it be Pupi’s next film?” Bava asked.
or white) played by Mimsy Farmer (Il profumo
“No, we’d like you to make it!” Within a week,
della signora in nero) or Florinda Bolkan (Le
Lamberto, the Avatis and Roberto Gandus had
orme, 97). She is a very different kind of hero-
written a -page treatment, and while Antonio
ine than we were used to meeting in the classic
Avati attempted to involve Medusa in the financ-
Gothic film: not particularly attractive, a bit
ing, Bava Jr. went back to the U.S. with Argento
vulgar- looking, Jane is a disturbed housewife
to do some reshoots for Inferno, as some of the
who finds solace in adultery and will be haunted
footage presented technical defects.2 While he
by the memory of her deceased lover. The theme
was overseas, Antonio Avati called him: Medusa
of the “forbidden room” which hides a dark sex-
had greenlit the project. Six weeks later, in No-
ual secret, typical Gothic fare (see Cynthia’s at-
vember,3 Lamberto Bava was shooting his first
tempts to sneak into her husband’s quarters in
film as a director.
L’orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock), is also devel-
The genesis and making of Macabro were
oped in a non- glamorous, matter- of-fact man-
very quick, as was typical of low- budget projects.
ner. Almost all the film takes place in the sub-
The script was cranked out in days,4 and film-
urban villa where Jane used to meet with her
ing lasted for four weeks. There was no inter-
lover, anxiety arises from everyday situations,
ference whatsoever from the Avatis, not even in
and horror is concealed in the household object
the choice of the actors. The female lead, in the
par excellence, the fridge.
director’s words, “had to be not really beautiful,
If Macabro lacks the sparse oneiric and sur-
and about 40 years old,” and the Liverpool- born
real elements of Shock, it nonetheless retains a
Bernice Stegers, who in that period was in Italy,
similar look and directorial restraint. This could
acting in Fellini’s La città delle donne, seemed
be a point in favor of the thesis that Shock was
perfect for the role of Jane Baker. Bava chose the
in equal parts the work of Lamberto as Mario,
Croatian Stanko Molnar over Michele Soavi for
but the similarities can be traced back to the
the role of the blind landlord Robert Duval, who
scripts, which Bava Jr. co- authored and which
becomes suspicious of the strange goings- on in
carry a trace of his different sensibility.
his house. On the set, the debuting director
For me, in Macabro, fear comes from the inside: the
didn’t feel the same inadequacy as Pupi Avati
anxieties, frustrations, all the psychological disorders.
had while directing Balsamus. “I had my wife
I want everyone to be able to identify with my char-
Rosanna with me as my assistant. I slept won-
acters, because if they were unreal, that would show
derfully the night before, and on my first day on
on screen… . It is not a coincidence [that both stories
the set I completed 28 shots, urging the crew,
are similar] because it interests me a lot to take a fam-
‘Come on, come on, come on!’ They asked me,
ily which at the beginning is normal and perturb it,
‘Why, how many movies have you done?!?’”6
to create a Fantastic- themed tale from there. In peo-
32 1980: Macabro ple’s eyes, family is what they can and have that is
often featured weak, ineffective male figures,
most normal, logical and real.8
from the impotent dwarf in Balsamus l’uomo di
Satana (970) to the dysfunctional all- male fam-
Visually, the film retains the same ordinary
ily in Le strelle nel fosso (979).9 The duality of
quality, as the director shoots the story in a
eros/thanatos and the theme of the amour fou
matter- of-fact, unspectacular way: the fatal car
that obsesses Jane are also developed with an
accident near the beginning, for instance, con-
eye on the grotesque akin to Avati’s films: see,
sists of just two shots, the broken windshield
for instance, the small altar in the woman’s bed-
and Jane screaming. Bava worked with d.o.p
room, which evokes Henry James’ story The
Franco Delli Colli, a regular collaborator on
Altar of the Dead and François Truffaut’s film
Avati’s films, who used old lamps and projectors
adapted from it, La chambre verte (978). Avati’s
to obtain diffuse, intimate lighting: a very dif-
contribution to the script extended also to the
ferent atmosphere than the one normally asso-
depiction of the dysfunctional Baker family, par-
ciated with the genre.
ticularly with the relationship between Jane and
Macabro plays cruelly with the voyeurism
her malevolent daughter Lucy (Veronica Zinny).
of the audience, who is presented a case of
In one of the early scenes Lucy is seen drowning
sexual obsession (a woman keeps the head of
her little brother in the bathtub out of spite for
the deceased lover in the freezer and uses it as
an erotic fetish) that can only be depicted
proves she has the same vein of madness as Jane,
through imagination. Soon viewers find them-
even cooking a nasty meal for her and Robert
selves in a similar position as the blind Robert
in a memorable dinner scene which fuels the vi-
Duval—unable to see what is going on, and
olent ending. Lucy’s delusions for a “perfect”
gradually bound to imagine the worst. The char-
family reunited (that is, her mother coming back
acter of the blind man—a keen variation on the
home with her dad, to an ideal but impossible
blind helpless heroine as seen in such films as
idyllic marriage), no matter what the cost, make
Wait Until Dark (967, Terence Young) and
her a disturbing little psycho, and a haunting ad-
Blind Terror (97, Richard Fleischer)—brings
dition to the gallery of neurotic children in Ital-
to unsettling extremes the weak male figure, an-
ian cinema of the period, well- played by the 3-
other staple of Italian Gothic. Not only is
year-old Zinny (Victoria’s daughter and Karl
Duval—who repairs music instruments but can’t
Zinny’s sister).
play them, a symbolic hint at his ineffective-
Bava wisely keeps the gore down to a min-
ness—totally inad
equate as a hero, literally grop-
imum. As the director recalled, “the violence
ing in the dark from beginning to end, but he is
had been played down intentionally because
utterly helpless and vulnerable. In the early
Avati’s production hadn’t wanted to be excessive
scenes we see his elderly mother take care of him
in any way, otherwise the story might have de-
like a child, giving him a bath—and, even more
teriorated into bad taste eroticism, and so we set
humiliating for him, under Jane’s distressed
all our story by the tension and the slow, relent-
look. The sight of a grown woman helping a
less pace of the drama.”0 Macabro is a tale played
man as if he was a boy, with its emasculating im-
on ambiguity, which builds anxiety through ret-
plications, recalls not only Mino Guerrini’s mor-
icence. Is the subjective shot that traverses the
bid Gothic yarn Il terzo occhio (966), but also
house at night a supernatural presence evoked
such grotesque classics such as Ferreri’s La
by Jane (after all we are in New Orleans, perhaps
Grande bouffe (973) and Luciano Salce’s under-
America’s most “magical” city)? Or is it a product
rated Alla mia cara mamma nel giorno del suo
of the woman’s disturbed imagination? Such an
compleanno (974), where the image of the
ambiguity is protracted until the very end. For
mother bathing her grown child was pushed to
the whole movie, we are convinced that Jane is
mocking, black- humored extremes. Later, it will
just a crazy delusional woman, who performs re-
be Jane who will meet Robert while taking a
pulsive sex acts with a surrogate of her dead
bath, in an even more humiliating reversal
lover; but, as Robert discovers in the frightening
which further underlines the man’s sexual frus-
epilogue, things are not as simple as they seem,
tration.
and the truth is even more harrowing and
Lamberto Bava’s debut has indeed a notice-
absurd. Bava claimed it was his idea to end the
able grotesque quality to it, possibly an element
film with a last- minute shock twist, and the sud-
introduced in the script by Avati, whose films
den leap into the fantastique is a truly memorable
1980: Macabro
33
moment, which spins the cards in the very last
Argento) and an eerie stylized poster featuring
shot. A payoff at the limit of self- sabotage, it goes