The Best French Horror Movies of All Time
France has a long tradition with horror films. Since the very beginning of cinema to the New French Extremity of the 2000's and a very recent resurgence of the "cinema de genre" with Raw (2016).
Which one of these French horror movies is your favorite ?
Discuss it over here.
Sources: I have used more than thirty websites and books specialized in movies and horror (including Rotten Tomatoes, Rolling Stones, Creepycatalog, WhatCulture, MUBI, HNN, AlloCiné, AllHorror, Collider, Films of the New French Extremity, Sens Critique, Cine Series, Frames Cinema Journal...) in order to pinpoint these movies. Moreover, I have used IMDb to sort French horror movies and I have chosen only those which have more than 2000 votes.
Which one of these French horror movies is your favorite ?
Discuss it over here.
Sources: I have used more than thirty websites and books specialized in movies and horror (including Rotten Tomatoes, Rolling Stones, Creepycatalog, WhatCulture, MUBI, HNN, AlloCiné, AllHorror, Collider, Films of the New French Extremity, Sens Critique, Cine Series, Frames Cinema Journal...) in order to pinpoint these movies. Moreover, I have used IMDb to sort French horror movies and I have chosen only those which have more than 2000 votes.
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- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorJulia DucournauStarsGarance MarillierElla RumpfRabah Nait OufellaA young woman, studying to be a vet, develops a craving for human flesh.
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsVincent GalloTricia VesseyBéatrice DalleTwo American newlyweds in Paris experience a love so strong, it almost devours them.
- 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.
- DirectorMarina de VanStarsMarina de VanLaurent LucasLéa DruckerA woman grows increasingly fascinated with her body after suffering a disfiguring accident.
- 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 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.
- DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsIsabelle AdjaniSam NeillMargit CarstensenA woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.
- DirectorGaspar NoéStarsSofia BoutellaRomain GuillermicSouheila YacoubFrench dancers gather in a remote, empty school building to rehearse on a wintry night. The all-night celebration morphs into a hallucinatory nightmare when they learn their sangria is laced with LSD.
- 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.Not strictly horror but very disturbing
- DirectorAlexandre BustilloJulien MauryStarsChloé CoulloudFélix MoatiJérémy KaponeThe suggestion of a big treasure hidden somewhere inside Mrs Jessel's once renowned classical dance academy will become an irresistible lure to a fiendish trap for Lucie and her friends.
- DirectorCoralie FargeatStarsMatilda Anna Ingrid LutzKevin JanssensVincent ColombeNever take your mistress on an annual guys' getaway, especially one devoted to hunting - a violent lesson for three wealthy married men.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsRoman PolanskiIsabelle AdjaniMelvyn DouglasA bureaucrat rents a Paris apartment where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.Not strictly horror but psychological horror
- DirectorJoël SériaStarsJeanne GoupilCatherine WagenerBernard DhéranTwo bored Catholic schoolgirls spending summer in the countryside decide to become Satanists, and begin committing a series of morbid and increasingly dangerous crimes.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorDavid MorleyStarsHélène de FougerollesFrancis RenaudDida DiafatIn the middle of a zombie apocalypse, a resourceful couple hides out in an isolated abandoned building. The woman is pregnant and the man is infected, slowly transforming into the kind of inhuman monster they are trying to escape.
- DirectorWalerian BorowczykStarsSirpa LaneLisbeth HummelElisabeth KazaIn order to inherit a fortune a young woman agrees to marry a young man. She soon discovers that his family harbours a dark past involving a monstrous beast.
- DirectorHélène CattetBruno ForzaniStarsCassandra ForêtCharlotte Eugène GuibeaudMarie BosAs a young girl Ana was a rebellious child. She was also tormented by images of death and a shadowy, ominous figure in black. Now an adult, she is once again tormented by shadowy, other-worldly forms.French & Belgian
- 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.
- DirectorJulia DucournauStarsVincent LindonAgathe RousselleGarance MarillierFollowing a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for ten years.
- DirectorJean RollinStarsMarie-Georges PascalFélix MartenSerge MarquandA young woman discovers that the pesticide being sprayed on vineyards is turning people into killer zombies.
- 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.
- DirectorEric ValetteStarsGérald LarochePhilippe LaudenbachClovis CornillacFour prisoners find an ancient diary in the wall of their cell which might be the key to getting out.
- DirectorDominique RocherStarsAnders Danielsen LieGolshifteh FarahaniDenis LavantThe morning after a party, a young man wakes up to find Paris invaded by zombies.
- DirectorJust PhilippotStarsSuliane BrahimSofian KhammesMarie NarbonneA single mother's business of a locust farm isn't doing so well. She discovers by accident that blood makes them thrive, and does her best to hide her secrets.
- DirectorChristophe GansStarsRadha MitchellLaurie HoldenSean BeanA woman, Rose, goes in search for her adopted daughter within the confines of a strange, desolate town called Silent Hill.French & Canadian
- DirectorFranck KhalfounStarsElijah WoodNora ArnezederAmerica OlivoAs he helps a young artist with her upcoming exhibition, the owner of a mannequin shop's deadly, suppressed desires come to the surface.French & American
- DirectorPascal LaugierStarsCrystal ReedMylène FarmerAnastasia PhillipsA mother of two who inherits a house is confronted with murderous intruders on the first night in their new home and fights for her daughters' lives. Sixteen years later when the daughters reunite at the house, things get really strange.
- 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.
- DirectorLionel DelplanqueStarsMarie TrintignantSuzanne MacAleeseMaud BuquetA group of young actors stay overnight in their host's castle only to be hunted by a serial killer.