Ahh the French. I’m pretty sure my introduction to French horror was either “Baby Blood” or the not so fan friendly “Zombie Lake” and I became a fan. The atmosphere, often erotic charm and they really seem to like blood. I guess it is like their wine. Here’s a brief overview of some of the country’s offerings that I find to be essential.

Les Diaboligues – 1955
English Translation: “The Devils” is a grim atmospheric French suspense classic from 1955 skillfully directed by Henri Georges Clouzet in which an ailing wife of a dominating headmaster at a private boarding school joins with his mistress and masterminds a plan to murder the overbearing jerk. It’s a good plan until the corpse vanishes and the two ladies begin to unravel as does the mystery. Great stuff that comes highly recommended for suspense and 50’s fans. In French with subs on Criterion DVD. a. k. a. Diabolique, The Fiends

Eyes without a Face – 1960
Criterion DVD boasts a gorgeous widescreen 92 minute UNCUT print of the artsy recommended French/Italian flick “Les Yeux sans Visage” is worthy of a look-see. A prestigious guilt ridden surgeon is determined to restore his creepy mask wearing daughter’s beauty after she is de-faced in a car accident. How? By luring young woman with the help of his assistant Alida Valli to his secluded and very cool mansion to have their faces cut off for skin grafts. A little slow but an edgy eerie surreal classic in its own right, presented in its original French language with subs. Dubbed in English as “The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus” clocking in at truncated 84 minutes. Ouch.

The Grapes of Death - 1978
Jean Rollin’s “Les Raisins de la Mort” is necessary zombie material for fans of the undead. While vacationing with a friend Marie-Georges Pascal escapes from a train finds herself in a remote corpse littered village in France where wine made from grapes sprayed with pesticides is turning the locals into violent zombie killers. Add a whole lot of Euro Atmosphere and your in for a treat. See all the blood and gore UNCUT on Synapse DVD seen here in its original French language with easy to read subtitles.

The Living Dead Girl - 1982
Jean Rollin’s erotic gothic edged horror “La Morte Vivante” has a young woman Catherine brought back from the dead by chemical waste when two men rob her grave. Like any good resurrecty, she goes right to draining innocent victims of there blood by impaling their throats with her long pointy finger nails. Along side of beautiful photography this is chock full of nudity and a number of graphic gore scenes. One of Rollin’s most successful and best films it was heavily cut by the British censors but Redemption DVD sees its full gory glory. In French with English subs.

Baby Blood - 1990
Oh joy---when a parasitic organism of an alien nature melds with the fetus inside the womb of busty Emmanuelle Escourrou and demands human blood; and a lot of it in this French splatter dark comedy classic. She tries to resist but para-baby-site---a telepathically communicating fetus---forces her to seduce men to be killed with torrents of bloody gore as unfortunates are violently stabbed to feed the little one. Previously on Embassy Video as “The Evil Within”, a CUT but very bloody cropped print. But those days are over thanks to Anchor Bay’s stunning UNCUT---about 5 minutes longer--- properly formatted DVD with the English dubbed track and French track. The para-baby-site has a raspy witchy woman’s voice on French track and its male on the English dub. So you may want to go French and read those subs to see it the way it was intended. After all these years a sequel is the making called “Lady Blood”.

Haute Tension - 2003
Hot Damn--- “High Tension” is exactly what you get in this exploitative French stalk and slash gore grinder. Poor Cécile De Franc’s weekend at a friend’s parent’s farmhouse deep in a cornfield quickly turns into a grueling night of murder and mayhem when a slimy stranger shows up. Suspense a plenty and Italian Gianetto De Rossi makes a real mess with some awesome & very gory f/x. This exorcise in mean spirited violence helped kick start the new wave of French horror. Lions Gate DVD has a load of xtras, The R version, UNCUT dubbed in English and the original French language versions.

Ils – 2006
Aka “Them” here in the states This is a pretty slick little number where suspense runs very high in a home invasion yarn. A couple goes for a vacation at a secluded house and is terrorized by whom or what and why? Very tense indeed. Recent horror hit “The Strangers” borrows rather heavily here.

À l'intérieur – 2007
Exceptionally bloody woman in jeopardy flick from the French is a refreshing horror film. A very pregnant woman’s life turns into a living hell when another woman will stop at nothing to get her baby. Extremely violent and gory bloodbath. On Dimension Extreme as “Inside”.

Frontière(s) - 2007
It’s the French Chain Saw Massacre minus the chain saw and a sicko with a dead skin mask. Survival horror and it is all good; actually it’s freakin’ outstanding! In the middle of a rioting Paris a small gang with stolen money escapes to an out of the way Hostel to split it up. Bad move coz this dysfunctional family owned business does not play nice. Mean-spirited, intense, vicious, twisted, savage, very brutal, and very well made, this is easily my favorite horror film of the 2007. I can’t really see anything being better than this bloodbath. If you like harsh nastiness like ”The Texas Chain Saw Massacre”, “Wolf Creek”, “Haute Tension” and “Calvaire” for instances you’ll be at home here