It is one of the quirks of movie history that the main reason this pot-boiler of a mystery is remembered is because it was the first of producer/director William Castle's gimmick scare films. The gimmick?--A $1,000.00 life insurance policy issued by Lloyd's of London given to each lucky theater patron to insure them against death by fright. A safe bet, since the movie delivers only one brief shock moment in its 70-odd minute running time. The gimmick, aided by the movie's rivetingly eerie advertising poster (featuring a hooded grinning skull and the faces of three screaming gals) helped bring in droves of customers to theater box-offices all across 1958 America.
Based on a round-robin mystery, "The Marble Forest", written by members of the Mystery Writers of America, "Macabre" presents the dilemma of a small-town doctor whose three-year-old daughter goes missing, presumably kidnapped, and is possibly buried alive! Other characters include the doctor's office nurse, the unsavory sheriff, the attractive other woman, the creepy housekeeper, the creepy undertaker, the creepy but expendable cemetery-keeper, and the aging millionaire with a cardiac condition. There are flashbacks, hysterical outbursts, melodramatic utterances, frantic diggings in a very dark and overgrown cemetery, and anyone could be a suspect. That being said, it also follows that nobody in the movie is a very sympathetic character, and the movie doesn't show off director Castle's talents as a scare-meister to great advantage.
Still, it's worth a watch, to see what all the brouhaha was about. After all, it was made quickly and cheaply, and made back something like $5 million in box-office revenue. The DVD has just been made available by Warner Bros. on-demand, so why wait?
Based on a round-robin mystery, "The Marble Forest", written by members of the Mystery Writers of America, "Macabre" presents the dilemma of a small-town doctor whose three-year-old daughter goes missing, presumably kidnapped, and is possibly buried alive! Other characters include the doctor's office nurse, the unsavory sheriff, the attractive other woman, the creepy housekeeper, the creepy undertaker, the creepy but expendable cemetery-keeper, and the aging millionaire with a cardiac condition. There are flashbacks, hysterical outbursts, melodramatic utterances, frantic diggings in a very dark and overgrown cemetery, and anyone could be a suspect. That being said, it also follows that nobody in the movie is a very sympathetic character, and the movie doesn't show off director Castle's talents as a scare-meister to great advantage.
Still, it's worth a watch, to see what all the brouhaha was about. After all, it was made quickly and cheaply, and made back something like $5 million in box-office revenue. The DVD has just been made available by Warner Bros. on-demand, so why wait?