Eerie Books Blog's 50 Must-See French Horror Movies (2009)
Unranked.
Compiled by Randy Ray.
Compiled by Randy Ray.
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51 titles
- DirectorLuis SaslavskyStarsFrançois PérierMicheline PresleJeanne MoreauGervais and his friend Bernard, two prisoners of war, manage to escape from the camp where they are held. Bernard is determined to take refuge with Hélène, his war grandmother, a woman with whom he has been carrying on a romance by correspondence and Gervais agrees to accompany him. Unfortunately, Bernard is killed by a train before they get to destination. Gervais then decides to present himself to Hélène who, never having seen Bernard, mistakes the newcomer for her war godson. Too weak to restore the truth, Gervais becomes Bernard and moves in with Hélène. The situation gets even more complicated as two more women get into Gervais'life and entangle him in their web, Agnès, Hélène's jealous sister, and Julia, Bernard's sister, who pretends to recognize him...
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsDaniel AuteuilJuliette BinocheMaurice BénichouA married couple is terrorized by a series of surveillance videotapes left on their front porch.
- DirectorEric ValetteStarsGérald LarochePhilippe LaudenbachClovis CornillacFour prisoners find an ancient diary in the wall of their cell which might be the key to getting out.
- DirectorPascal LaugierStarsVirginie LedoyenLou DoillonCatriona MacCollAnna is a servant who accepts a post at the St. Ange. She arrives to confront an unsettling lack of orphans, save for one. Then the bizarre sights and sounds begin, which seem to elude detection by the other servant or the gloomy director.
- DirectorChristophe GansStarsSamuel Le BihanMark DacascosJérémie RenierIn 18th-century France, the Chevalier de Fronsac and his Native American friend Mani are sent to the Gevaudan province at the king's behest to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast.
- DirectorFranck VestielStarsClovis CornillacVimala PonsZohar WexlerA man wakes up in an underground cave, next to a dead body. He has no memory of how he got there and starts to try and work his way to the surface and escape from the network of tunnels, which seem to be some kind of ancient civilisation.
- DirectorAlain RobakStarsEmmanuelle EscourrouChristian SinnigerJean-François GallotteWhen a strange creature crawls into a woman's uterus she becomes a killer in order to feed the tiny terror growing within her.
- DirectorFranck RichardStarsYolande MoreauÉmilie DequenneBenjamin BiolayOne winter morning, while driving through the desolate French countryside, traveler Charlotte picks up hitchhiker Max. Together they stop at a roadside diner, where a strange and depraved horror awaits.
- DirectorLaurent TuelStarsKarin ViardCharles BerlingLudivine SagnierContent with two children in an upper class French marriage, a woman finds herself faced with visions of rape, violence and the supernatural. Her husband, a successful businessman also starts experiencing hallucinations in which he often ends up physically hurt. Their babysitter hangs herself and the children begin acting strangely, their sadistic behavior arousing suspicion. It becomes apparent that the children's bodies have been possessed/inhabited by two dirty, old people.
- DirectorRobin CampilloStarsGéraldine PailhasJonathan ZaccaïFrédéric PierrotThe lives of the residents of a small French town are changed when thousands of the recently dead inexplicably come back to life and try to integrate themselves into society that has changed for them.
- DirectorJean RollinStarsMarina PierroFrançoise BlanchardMike MarshallA toxic spill revives a beautiful, dead heiress who, with the help of her childhood friend, must quench her insatiable thirst for blood.
- DirectorAbel GanceStarsRomuald JoubéMaxime DesjardinsSéverin-MarsThe story of two men, one married, the other the lover of the other's wife, who meet in the trenches of the First World War, and how their tale becomes a microcosm for the horrors of war.
- DirectorAbel GanceStarsVictor FrancenLine NoroSylvie GanceA traumatized World War I veteran builds a machine to prevent war. When the government subverts his machine and a second world war seems increasingly inevitable, in desperation the inventor summons the ghosts of the war dead to protest.
- DirectorJean RollinJulian de LasernaStarsHoward VernonPierre-Marie EscourrouAnouchkaIn a small village, somewhere in France, German soldiers, killed and thrown into the lake by the Resistance during WW II, come back.
- DirectorJean RollinStarsMarie-Georges PascalFélix MartenSerge MarquandA young woman discovers that the pesticide being sprayed on vineyards is turning people into killer zombies.
- DirectorJesús FrancoStarsManuel GélinEduardo FajardoFrance LomayAn expedition searching for treasure supposedly buried by the German army in the African desert during WWII comes up against an army of Nazi zombies guarding the fortune.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsJehanne d'AlcyJules-Eugène LegrisGeorges MélièsWith the help of a magic cauldron, Mephistopheles conjures up a variety of supernatural characters.
- DirectorGeorges FranjuStarsPierre BrasseurAlida ValliJuliette MaynielA surgeon causes an accident which leaves his daughter disfigured and goes to extreme lengths to give her a new face.
- DirectorJean CocteauRené ClémentStarsJean MaraisJosette DayMila ParélyA beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.
- DirectorMaurice TourneurStarsPierre FresnayJosseline GaëlNoël RoquevertRoland Brissot bought for a nickel a talisman that gives him love, fame, and wealth. The talisman is a cut left hand, and it works perfectly. Of course, there is nothing free in this world, and after one year, the devil comes and asks for his due.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsPierre BatcheffSimone MareuilLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsSimone SignoretVéra ClouzotPaul MeurisseThe wife and mistress of a loathed school principal plan to murder him with what they believe is the perfect alibi.
- DirectorAlain JessuaStarsJean RochefortEddy MitchellFiona GélinAn obsessed scientist assembles a living being from parts of exhumed corpses.
- DirectorJean EpsteinStarsJean DebucourtMarguerite GanceCharles LamyAllan visits the sinister Usher family mansion, where his friend Roderick is painting a portrait of his sickly wife Madeline. The portrait seems to be draining the life out of Madeline, slowly leading to her death.
- DirectorJean DelannoyStarsGina LollobrigidaAnthony QuinnJean DanetThe timeless tale of the seductive gypsy Esmeralda and the tortured hunchback Quasimodo.
- DirectorFederico FelliniLouis MalleRoger VadimStarsJane FondaBrigitte BardotAlain DelonA trio of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations about a cruel countess haunted by her cousin's stallion, a sadistic soldier haunted by his doppelgänger, and an alcoholic actor haunted by the Devil.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsRoman PolanskiIsabelle AdjaniMelvyn DouglasA bureaucrat rents a Paris apartment where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean-Louis BarraultTeddy BilisSylviane MargolléMr. Joly, doctor Cordelier's lawyer, is amazed to discover that his client and friend leaves his possessions to a stranger, Opale, a sadistic criminal. He needs this man to prove that people's behavior can be adjusted at will...
- DirectorPierre ChevalierStarsHoward VernonBrigitte CarvaFernando SanchoAn evil scientist creates a murderous, invisible ape-man.
- DirectorAlain JessuaStarsAlain DelonAnnie GirardotRobert HirschA French businesswoman goes to a remote and popular rejuvenation clinic after a breakup, and begins to suspect the treatment methods used by the head doctor, and slowly uncovers the horrible secret behind the clinic's success.
- DirectorJacques Doniol-ValcrozeStarsMathieu CarrièreJean-Pierre AumontNicoletta MachiavelliProfessor Marcilly is a famed brain specialist who, following in-depth and extended research work, is now able to perform brain transplant surgery. One day, he finds himself in the presence of a young car accident victim for whom the only hope of survival would be a brain transplant. Marcilly, who has a heart condition and is terminally ill, decides to become the "donor". The operation is a success. But who is actually the patient discharged from the hospital: a young fellow with the brain of a young man or an old man in the body of a young one?
- DirectorEdmond T. GrévilleStarsMel FerrerChristopher LeeDany CarrelA pianist who loses his hands in a plane crash receives the transplanted hands of an executed criminal but his new hands have the murderous tendencies of their previous owner.
- DirectorJesús FrancoStarsHelmut BergerBrigitte LahaieTelly SavalasWhen model Barbara Hallen disappears in France, her father's private detective traces her steps to a private plastic surgery clinic run by Dr.Flamand.
- DirectorDominik MollStarsLaurent LucasSergi LópezMathilde SeignerHarry knew Michel in high school; they meet again by accident, Harry inserts himself in Michel's life... and things take a sinister turn.
- DirectorDavid MoreauXavier PaludStarsOlivia BonamyMichaël CohenAdriana MoccaLucas and Clementine live peacefully in their isolated country house, but one night they wake up to strange noise... they're not alone... and a group of hooded assailants begin to terrorize them throughout the night.
- DirectorFabrice du WelzStarsLaurent LucasBrigitte LahaieGigi CoursignyMarc, a traveling entertainer, is on his way home for Christmas when his van breaks down in the middle of a jerkwater town with some strange inhabitants.
- DirectorAlexandre BustilloJulien MauryStarsAlysson ParadisJean-Baptiste TabourinClaude LuléFour months after the death of her husband, a woman on the brink of motherhood is tormented in her home by a strange woman who wants her unborn baby.
- DirectorLionel DelplanqueStarsMarie TrintignantSuzanne MacAleeseMaud BuquetA group of young actors stay overnight in their host's castle only to be hunted by a serial killer.
- DirectorJesús FrancoStarsLina RomayJack TaylorAlice ArnoA beautiful female vampire lures men to their doom.
- DirectorBruno GantillonStarsDominique DelpierreAlfred BaillouMireille SauninTwo French girls get lost in the woods and accidentally enter the realm of sorceress Morgana Le Fay - who gives them the choice of either staying young forever as her lovers, or rot in a dungeon for eternity.
- DirectorRoger VadimStarsMel FerrerElsa MartinelliAnnette StroybergA young heiress - jealous of her cousin's engagement to another woman - becomes obsessed with the legend of a vampire ancestor, who supposedly murdered the young brides of the man she loved.
- DirectorJean RollinStarsSolange PradelBernard LetrouCatherine DevilleAfter a psychoanalyst unsuccessfully tries to convince four sisters that they are not 200-year-old vampires, the Queen of the Vampires promulgates the cause of the Undead.
- DirectorAlexandre AjaStarsCécile de FranceMaïwennPhilippe NahonBest friends Marie and Alexia decide to spend a quiet weekend at Alexia's parents' secluded farmhouse. But on the night of their arrival, the girls' idyllic getaway turns into an endless night of horror.
- DirectorKim ChapironStarsVincent CasselOlivier BarthélémyRoxane MesquidaA group of youngsters go out to a disco on Christmas Eve and accidentally run into a shepherd who has prepared himself for a night of pure insanity.
- DirectorMarina de VanStarsMarina de VanLaurent LucasLéa DruckerA woman grows increasingly fascinated with her body after suffering a disfiguring accident.
- DirectorPascal LaugierStarsMorjana AlaouiMylène JampanoïCatherine BéginA young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsVincent GalloTricia VesseyBéatrice DalleTwo American newlyweds in Paris experience a love so strong, it almost devours them.
- DirectorGaspar NoéStarsMonica BellucciVincent CasselAlbert DupontelEvents over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in an underpass tunnel.
- DirectorXavier GensStarsKarina TestaAurélien WiikPatrick LigardesA gang of young thieves flee Paris during the violent aftermath of a political election, only to hole up at an Inn run by neo-Nazis.
- DirectorVirginie DespentesCoralie Trinh ThiStarsRaffaëla AndersonKaren LancaumeCéline BeugnotTwo young women, marginalised by society, go on a destructive tour of sex and violence. Breaking norms and killing men - and shattering the complacency of polite cinema audiences.
- DirectorAlain BerbérianStarsRichard AnconinaFrédéric DiefenthalChiara MastroianniA few young women are murdered in Paris and as police progress in the investigation they realise that discovering the identity of the serial killer is not enough to bring the maniac to justice.