If you want to explore a world of unique, haunting, and horrifying content beyond Western media, French Horror is a great place to start.
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I’m back with another list of fascinating foreign horror. We have covered Korean horror; now, we’re headed to Europe to explore the most prominent French horror television and film. With horrific body bending and biting titles to a clear preference on how the zombie genre should be done, these thrilling French exports should get your heart pumping, breath shaking, and skin crawling.
Television
Marianne (2019)
This show hit me out of left field. It was a random selection on Netflix with a promisingly creepy teaser, a horrifying cast of characters, and a charismatic lead who could be counted on for a laugh or a learning moment.
Marianne follows the life of Emma, a now successful writer touring with her book series about the heroine Lizzie Larck, who tangles with an evil witch named Marianne, whose dark promise is that she never leaves empty-handed. Emma is working on her last novel. She has devoted so many years to Lizzie and Marianne that it’s time to take the money and run, one last hurrah. The problem is that only one of Emma’s characters is made up—and unfortunately, that’s the hero.
Emma claims that the stories and the vision of Marianne came to her through her dreams and are most likely fantasy, but those around her, especially her old friends who are seeing dark changes in their loved ones, think this is far from fiction.
Marianne is a frightening series with plenty of long, eerie moments drawn out into anticipation and the good old jumpers that get your heart racing; Freddy Kruger has a new rival in the bad dreams department. Emma and the rest of her crew make a compelling group as they set out to find the source of Emma’s nightmares and see if they can stop the malevolent grip Marianne has over Emma and those around her.
I highly recommend this series if you’re up for a dose of nostalgia and pure creeps.
Black Spot (2017)
A French-Belgian production, Black Spot brings supernatural thrills as it explores the dark mystery surrounding a dying town.
Originally premiering on French television in 2017 and streamed by Amazon, the series was commissioned for a second season and would debut on Netflix in 2019. The story centers around Laurene Weiss, head of police, and prosecutor Franck Siriani. Weiss protects the tiny, fictional town of Villefranche, an isolated little area supposedly surrounded by 50,000 acres of pure forest. Siriani arrives to probe one burning question about this particular little place: why is the town’s murder rate six times the national average?
With a shady past and dangerous forests, this place is bound to hold some secrets. Thrilling, chilling, and mysterious, Black Spot delivers in atmosphere and story, delving far deeper than just the missing person cases and taking us deep into the shadowy woods.
The Returned (2012)
Nominated for a BAFTA, a Satellite Award, and taking home an International Emmy for its first season is The Returned (Les Revenants). With only two seasons that spanned from 2012 until 2015, the show was a supernatural horror hit that landed on Canal+ streaming when it debuted.
Based on the 2004 French film They Came Back, the supernatural horror drama tells the story of a small mountain town where the dead begin to reappear as though nothing happened. Victims of fatal car crashes, suicides, and murders all return as if nothing is out of the ordinary. As society tries to adapt to a world where the dead can arise, and those who regained their lives try to find a place in society, strange occurrences begin, and bad omens surface.
Adapted into an American version in 2015, The Returned would be canceled by A&E after just one lackluster season. Though it may be difficult to find the French version, don’t feel the temptation to watch the American version. I believe the original has proven it holds up even after a decade.
Film
High Tension (2003)
A French foreign favorite for audiences, High Tension shifts gears after the first act and doesn’t stop.
Best friends Marie and Alex are on a trip to see Alex’s parents for the weekend. All things seem uneventful until a drifter with a detached head joins the scene, and soon, a quiet night after dinner turns to insanity, leaving most of the family dead. With Alex alive and taken captive by the murderer, it seems up to Marie to track down the kidnapped Alex and save her from what fate her parents faced.
Anyone who’s seen this knows the film has its flaws in the timeline, but the twist ending of High Tension was enough to get everyone talking. A bloody and ruthless flick, it will keep you guessing until its final jump scare and make you think twice about the company you keep.
Transylvanie (2023 Short)
Ewa is a strange little girl for many reasons, chiefly because she is a vampire. Mocked by the other children in her development for wearing a cape and declaring she is immortal, Ewa doesn’t have many friends, but she is looking for a familiar. Drinking the blood of wild animals she catches to sustain herself and setting her sights on a boy on the block, Ewa might not have to be alone in the world of immortals for very long.
This delightful short came across my screen last year as an entry for the Fantasia Festival and made a splash. Katell Varvat is a superstar, featuring in two of the shorts for the year. Transylvanie, from French filmmaker Rodrigue Huart, was the Midnight Short Competition Winner at SXSW 2024.
With a speedy runtime and one ultimate question to answer, Transylvanie is a beautiful French horror short with a compelling premise and satisfying ending.
Martyrs (2008)
One of the most notable and gruesome selections on this list, Martyrs is a French psychological revenge film that takes vengeance to its pinnacle.
Set in the early 70s, it follows Lucie, who has escaped from a slaughterhouse, imprisoned, tortured, and sent to an orphanage after the ordeal. It’s here that she befriends Anna, a similarly abused girl who claims to be haunted by a demonic woman. When the girls find their confidence and willingness to act, the violence comes fast and furious as anyone involved with the girls’ abuse becomes a target, and their final act becomes unforgettable.
The film emphasizes that “martyr” is derived from the Greek term for “witness,” and these girls indeed witnessed and experienced things beyond human comprehension. It ends with an unforgettable twist and the kind of bang that ensures it haunts your memory long after the credits roll. Do yourself a favor and seek out the French version while steering far clear of the tepid 2015 American remake.
Titane (2021)
Part body horror, part psychological horror drama, Titane is a mind-bending shock to behold.
Another French-Belgian piece, Titane, is a strange, seductive horror that took bodily mutilation and made it deadly yet sexy. The film follows Alexia, who, after being injured in a childhood car crash, has had a titanium plate fixed onto her head. As adulthood blossoms, Alexia finds she has murderous impulses, coupled with an erotic fascination with automobiles, which is the catalyst for a chain of increasingly insane events that surround our main character.
A twisted monster of metal and flesh, this is a truly unique body-bending story of metal and fury if you’re up for something completely out of the ordinary.
Raw (2016)
A film that had some audiences supposedly reaching for a vomit bag, Raw is a French stunner that left mouths hanging open.
Following new veterinarian student Justine, we trace her journey as she begins her first semester at school. At the same institution as her gregarious sister, partying soon turns to hazing as the new class is forced to eat raw kidneys as part of their initiation. Though initially refusing, Justine eats the meat, and soon, the side effects of her new lifestyle could become deadly.
Skin crawling and teeth gnashing, Raw is a slow burn that leads up to some horrifying twists on human consumption and an ending that leaves you speechless and hungry for more.
Ravenous (2017)
A French-Canadian entry, Ravenous is more standard horror fare, but that doesn’t make it any less compelling.
Following a zombie-like outbreak, regions of Quebec are devastated with dwindling numbers of survivors. The story revolves mostly around survivors Bonin, Tania, Zoe, and Therese as they fight off waves of the infected and deal with newcomers who might be bearing ill will or disease.
Described as “restrained” by some critics, the film isn’t a blood-pumping zombie race to the death but instead offers a more humanitarian look at survival rather than focusing on the monsters. This drove some audiences away as the pacing is a bit slower than you expect from a flesh-eating menace, but it creates fulfilling characters and tense situations and leaves enough room for some action.
The Deep House (2021)
The only English-language entry on our list, The Deep House is a French supernatural entry hitting on the trend of social media again.
Ben and Tina are two YouTube influencers who are passionate about travel and devoted to finding new haunted locations to explore and film. One day, they decide to seek out a sanitorium submerged in an artificial lake but find the spot overrun by tourists. A local speaks with them about a different portion of the lake, submerged in the 1908s to help reduce flooding, and says below there is a perfectly preserved mansion.
As Ben and Tina investigate the oddly preserved mansion below the surface, they soon find that some things are best left hidden.
Despite its mixed reception, this film has its chilling moments and boasts an interesting idea based on some actual locations, like those in the infamous Lake Lanier, that have been lost underwater to time.
Livid (2011)
With a plot at first reminiscent of Saint Maud, this tale is nothing holy.
Lucy is training to be an at-home care nurse, learning from an older woman, Mrs. Wilson. Their final patient of the day is in a grand and remote old mansion filled with toys and dolls. The patient is Mrs. Deborah Jessel, once a renowned ballet teacher, who is now bedridden and in a coma. The rumor is that Mrs. Jessel had treasure stored in the house: gold, jewels, and a real stash on the property. Lucy tells her boyfriend William about the treasure, and the two and William’s brother Ben decide to investigate the rumors on Halloween night.
However, once they’re in the house, they might find it hard to get back out.
Reminding me in some ways of Don’t Breathe with the heist aspect, Livid is a strange supernatural piece from the filmmaking duo behind both the aforementioned The Deep House and the extraordinary French shocker Inside.
The film might throw some audiences with its twisting plot and outlandish happenings. It was well received by critics but perhaps misunderstood by audiences.
The Night Eats the World (2018)
Another slower zombie flick, The Night Eats the World, takes on fast-moving feral beasts.
The film follows musician Sam, who heads to his ex-girlfriend’s house to get some tape. Sam is blown off as she’s holding a party but eventually gets a hold of his tapes. Suddenly, his nose begins to bleed, and Sam passes out in the office as he hears more noise erupt outside. He awakens the next day to an apartment trashed and covered in blood. He exits to find his zombified friends, who react violently to his calling to them. As the monster silently stalk Paris, they rarely make a sound, staying silent and out of sight is paramount as the creatures are fast and reactive.
Trapped and seeing hopelessness spread around him, Sam has to find a way out and move past all the dangers.
While audiences again penalized this for being slow, the film developed characters and story while maintaining pressure from the monsters lurking everywhere. France doesn’t seem like the place for explosive zombie flicks, but with nuance and character development, the French may tell the best stories in the subgenre.
Infested (2023)
A skin-crawling creature feature, Infested brings the kind of old-school, creepy-crawly chills we don’t get much of these days. In so doing, it successfully freaked out and terrified audiences, delivering nightmare fuel for arachnophobes.
Beginning with a search for spiders in the Middle East, three Arab smugglers net a large number of spiders, killing one of their companions who was bitten by one and escaping with some in a truck. One of these spiders somehow ends up in a convenience store in Paris, where sneaker and exotic animal lover Kaleb purchases it. After the spider escapes, people start dying, and spiders start multiplying. The building is put on government lockdown, trapping its terrified inhabitants inside and forcing them to fight for survival against insurmountable odds.
Creepy, eerie, and downright gross, Infested will have you jumping at every moving fiber.
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