Macabro – Die Küsse der Jane Baxter (1980)

Macabro – Die Küsse der Jane Baxter: Directed by Lamberto Bava. With Bernice Stegers, Stanko Molnar, Veronica Zinny, Roberto Posse. A middle-aged woman, traumatized from the death of her adulterous lover, moves into a room at a New Orleans boarding house where the blind landlord becomes suspicious to her activities of continuing her affair with her dead lover.

“The 80u0026#39;s was Italian director Lamberto Bavau0026#39;s decade. Throughout those years he knocked out a series of entertaining horror movies and was one of Italyu0026#39;s best in that period. Macabre was his directorial debut. And itu0026#39;s a pretty well-handled film overall. While it is quite over-the-top, it is much less so than most of Bavau0026#39;s subsequent outings. This one even qualifies as a psychological thriller as well as horror. It tells the tale of a disturbed woman who moves into a boarding house, it seems she has a dark secret though.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSimilar to a few early 80u0026#39;s horror films from his contemporary Lucio Fulci, this one is set in America; New Orleans to be precise. In truth, the setting could be absolutely anywhere are this is a claustrophobic tale that is set almost exclusively within the confines of a large old house. Presumably the U.S. location was used as a means of passing this off as an American product which was seen as an easier sell commercially. Whatever the case, this is a pretty good effort from Bava and takes a decidedly different route than most of his Italian peers. Itu0026#39;s let down a little by some flaky dialogue and acting but this is really par for the course with these flicks to be honest and doesnu0026#39;t really get that much in the way.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDespite hardly being exactly subtle, it does rely on atmosphere and suspense more than visceral thrills. The idea of the blind landlord trying to figure out just what exactly is happening in his new tenantu0026#39;s room works well in that the film relies on sounds to convey strange goings on. It takes a while until the big reveal actually happens but I am guessing not many people will be at all surprised. But that doesnu0026#39;t detract from the basic macabre idea being a good one. While it was also interesting that the little girl was also psychotic; killer kids are always a winner. Finally, it has to be said that the ending reminded me of the one in the Spanish slasher Pieces in that it was meaningless, completely unnecessary, ridiculous and kind of funny.”