My take: It’s got an interesting premise but it is drowned out by cheese and confusing twists.
Rating: 1 out of 4 stars
Macabre begins with a voiceover showing a clock and stating this warning:
“Ladies and gentlemen, for the next hour and fifteen minutes, you will be shown things so terrifying that the management of this theater is deeply concerned for your welfare. Therefore, we request that each of you assume the responsibility of taking care of your neighbor. If anyone near you becomes uncontrollably frightened, will you please notify the management so that medical attention can be rushed to their aid.”
That’s quite the warning. And at first, I was right on board with it because the premise is downright terrifying. The story is about a doctor who returns home to take his three-year-old daughter and secretary out to dinner. But when the secretary , the nanny, and the doctor start looking around the house, they find the girl is missing.
While the doctor is out looking for his girl, the secretary answers the phone where a voice informs her that the girl’s funeral has already taken place, she is in the place of the dead, and there is very little time. The doctor and the secretary immediately fear that the girl has been buried alive.
The doctor and his secretary, Polly, searching for a fresh grave where the girl may be buried alive.
It’s a pretty scary start to the movie. But, unfortunately, the story becomes more and more muddled as time passes. It tries to hard to set up a Clue-style mystery where too many suspects could be guilty. It even has an Agatha Christie-style reveal where the culprit is named. Maybe it is just because I have read too many mysteries and watched too much Poirot, but I found this too be utterly cheesy.
I would only recommend this to people who want to watch a corny mystery from the 50s.
I rented it online via Amazon. Here’s a trailer I found on YouTube, that shows what the opening warning was like at the beginning:
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