Les Diaboliques

An amazing French cinema classic, lovingly presented by Arrow with a restored picture quality and a handful of great extras, this is a must for true lovers of historical horror cinema. Zavvi have this at a super cheap price, I couldn't pass on it, and neither should you!

This was a blind buy for me. I'd heard a little of the reputation of this French film, so decided to chance it... glad that I did. Tremendous craftsmanship in this movie. Superb direction, cinematography and acting. The script is really a work of art and it's easy to see that many of its elements have been copied and reworked into later, even recent, blockbuster thrillers. The transfer to Blu-ray is very good. Little evidence of print damage and wonderful contrast, which is so important in a film such as this with many darkly lit moody passages. Some informative extras, but the film itself is the revelation. Highly recommended for lovers of taut thrillers, Hitchcock, noir or simply the craft of filmmaking.

It's no surprise to learn that Hitchcock was heavily influenced by Clouzot's astonishing black-and-white masterpiece: Psycho has a central character bumped off early too, plus a merciless camera investigating the pathology of psychosis. One of the key differences here is how sparingly Clouzot uses music. Everything is cool and - especially at the climax - breathtakingly shocking. Here at last it's delivered in a pristine print with numerous fascinating extras. The less you know about Les Diaboliques the better. Just watch it.