Macabre (1958)

A doctor's daughter is kidnapped and buried alive, and he is given just five hours to find and rescue her.

Macabre is a 1958 thriller film directed by William Castle, written by Robb White, and starring William Prince, Jim Backus, Christine White, Jacqueline Scott, and Susan Morrow. The film falls into both horror and suspense genres.  

Dr. Rod Barrett's (William Prince) young daughter has been kidnapped by a mysterious maniac who has buried her alive "in a large coffin". The doctor has five hours in which to find and rescue her before her air runs out and she suffocates. The maniacal killer apparently also murdered Barrett's wife and her sister.

Various family members and friends become potential suspects as they help in the search, wandering through dark graveyards, crypts, thunder and lightning, and red-herrings. The somewhat muddy plot leads to a surprise conclusion that reveals the guilty party and the motive. At the film's end, a narrator requests that the audience not reveal the unexpected ending to others.

$1000,00 in case of DEATH by FRIGHT

William Castle's first excursion into the horror genre is not really scary at all. It's a mild murder mystery about several dislikable characters, one of them presumably having committed a grizzly crime. It gets bogged down midway with some flashback sequences which really don't help the narrative THAT much. The performances are well acted and the film manages to keep a decent level of intrigue and curiosity throughout. It's also unusual to see Jim Backus in a rather unlikable role. In case you don't know who Jim Backus was.....he's fucking Mr. Howell from Gilligan's Island and he's a huge dick in the film. He was Mr. Magoo as well. 

The cast is fine although Jacqueline Scott (in her film debut) is a little over the top for my tastes. Christine White is good in flashback scenes ("All men seem alike in the dark"). The scene implying she wants an abortion is pretty taboo stuff for 1958, even if the word itself is never uttered. Castle's direction is adequate. There's some decent atmosphere in the graveyard scenes but not much tension, due in part to the cutaways for flashbacks. 

Mr Howell meets Lovey

The ending is still a grabber that I didn't see coming even if I couldn't quite figure out the logic. Anyway, with more work on the screenplay, this could have been something memorable instead of the okay thriller it is. 

IF IT FRIGHTENS YOU TO DEATH - YOU'LL BE BURIED FREE OF CHARGE

The first of William Castle's "gimmick" films. In this one, admission included a $1000 insurance policy against "death by fright" issued by Lloyds of London.

During its initial theatrical release, attendees were given a small badge that said, "I'm no chicken. I saw 'Macabre'." 

The narrator of the trailer mispronounces the title of the movie, pronouncing it "Ma-cob-ra" instead of the correct "Ma-cob." (Correction: most dictionaries give both pronunciations, and the way the narrator pronounces it is closer to the original French word.)

Film debut of Jacqueline Scott.

So terrifying we have to insure your life!