Eleven Best French Horror Films
I hit a magic mark recently and watched my 100th French horror film.
From that list, ten are amazing and worth talking about – while the top four are excellent and on the “best of all time” list.
What follows is the Eleven Best French Horror Films with mini spoiler-free synopses.
The year following the title denotes the year of release. Ratings are on a traditional five-star scale. Although these are French productions, some films may have been co-produced with other nations. However, France is either the leading country for production, or francophile presence exists. At the end, you’ll find honorable mentions for other great French horrors.
Enjoy the countdown to number one of best French horror…
Number 11
Inside 2007
Several months after the death of her husband, a pregnant woman has to deal with someone trying to invade her home. Besides solid acting and a pervading sense of claustrophobia, it’s hard not to think the filmmakers used real blood in the film for accuracy. And the ending is phenomenal.
4 stars
Number 10
Maléfique 2005
This fantasy horror takes place in a prison cell where four inmates discover an old journal. Offbeat and surreal, each inmate has commited corporate or far more heinous crimes – and the journal may be their “get out of jail free” card. A great story with vibrant characters.
4 stars
Number 9
Amer 2010
These surreal tale follows Ana through three key moments in her life as a child, as an adolescent, and as an adult. Each chapter’s full of desire and a haunting presence. From the directorial team of Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, the pair takes the audience on a mind-blowing trip.
4 stars
Number 8
Vampyr 1934
A traveler interested in the supernatural, comes upon an inn where an extremely ill girl may be turning into a vampire. Intriguing and creepy, this is one of the stronger silent era horrors that more fans of the genre need to explore.
4 stars
Number 7
The Horde 2010
Cops and gangsters must join forces to stem the tide of a zombie outbreak in an apartment building. This isn’t just another zombie joyride, but one of the fiercest and very best in the seemingly hackneyed sub-genre.
4 stars
Number 6
Daughters of Darkness 1971
A newlywed couple meets a couple of another kind at a seaside resort where bodies are turning up drained of blood. This isn’t a cheesy vampire movie, but a mature outing with engaging characters and a dark setting that enhances gothic themes.
4 stars
Number 5
Dead End 2003
For twenty years, a husband has taken the same route to his mother-in-law’s to celebrate Christmas. This Christmas Eve, he takes a short cut and it’s the biggest mistake of his life. This is an existential nightmare of bizarre proportions, and the phenomenal Ray Wise delivers another incomparable performance.
4 stars
Number 4
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears 2013
A man returns to his apartment to discover that his wife’s missing. When he heads out in the complex to search for her, he runs into a bizarre world of death and seduction. Another foray into surreality from Cattet and Forzani, this out-giallos Giallo films.
4.5 stars
Number 3
The Ninth Gate 2000
Rare book detective, Dean Corso has a client that wants him to obtain all three copies of the Nine Doors to the Kingdom of Shadows, which may reveal how to conjure Satan. A cool mystery with excellent characters, Roman Polanski’s film is far superior to the actual novel.
4.5 stars
Number 2
Possession 1983
After asking her husband for a divorce, the wife lashes out in exceeding bizarre ways with something Lovecraftian in the shadows. After this intense and highly-charged film wrapped production, actress Isabelle Adjani went to the hospital for exhaustion.
4.5 stars
Number 1
Martyrs 2008
Two young women seek revenge for the abuse they endured as children. This is torture porn with a philosophy, and one of the most disturbing films ever made – with one of the most poignant and gasp worthy end lines in the history of cinema.
5 stars
And the Eleven Best French Horror Films comes with these runners up that are strong, compelling 3.5 star contenders: Diabolique (1955), Mill of the Stone Women (1962), In My Skin (2002), They Came Back (2004), House of 9 (2005), Them (2006), Antichrist (2009), The Last Exorcism (2010), Dark Touch (2013), Alléluia (2014), The Neon Demon (2016), Personal Shopper (2017), and my 100thFrench film: The Night Eats the World (2018).
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Billy Crash
Also known as William D. Prystauk, he loves great, in-depth characters and storytelling in horror, and likes to see heads roll, but if you kill a dog on screen he’ll cry like a baby. Billy, an award-winning screenwriter and novelist, writes for Macabre Theatre and co-hosts THE LAST KNOCK horror podcast on iTunes, and can also be found on Twitter, LinkedIn, IMDb, Amazon, Behance, YouTube, Instagram, and Google+.
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(Possession still from Listal.)