Without resorting to chainsaw-wielding maniacs and rotting zombies, French films have recently found other, more personal ways to scare audiences. Palme d’Or 2021, body horror (which exposes the transgressive disorders of the human body) Titaniumby Julia Ducournaufeatured a serial killer…pregnant with a Cadillac; in 2023, the story of ecological anticipation Animal Kingdomby Thomas Cailley, spread a virus capable of turning man into a beast, and just a year ago, verminby Sébastien Vanicek, threw an enormous amount of spiders into a city in the form of a pie chart. Inspired by Cronenberg, De Palma or Tarantino, these hybrid films have far exceeded the glass ceiling of 150,000 entries.
While the wave of “French scares” of the 2000s – High voltage (2003), inside (2007), border(s) (2008) – ended quickly, the current thrill seems to last. Take a look at the release calendar to convince yourself: Wednesday, November 27, the fantastic western Animalby Emma Benetan; December 11, the Almodovarian horror comedy The women on the balconyby Noémie Merlant; and on the 25th, the advance film Planet Bby Aude Léa Rapin. “Today, there are enough successes to make up for the failures and move on. Cartesian in nature, the French language no longer acts as a foil for the public”estimates producer Thierry Lounas (Capricci), and founder of the magazine Sofilm.
For almost ten years, Sofilm-style residencies, in partnership with the Grand-Est region (which launched the label Frissons en Grand Est), have allowed successful candidates to work on the visual and musical universe of their projects with screenwriters, composers and VFX Supervisors (“visual effects”). The most successful applications are presented to major financiers, namely Canal+ (which had already contributed to the emergence of “French scares”), Arte and the Goodfellas distributor (formerly Wild Bunch International).
Double revolution
“Horror cinema can no longer be the demon running down the hall… He has to talk about major world issues, which alone is a genre film every three months.”notes Thierry Lounas. Former residents, Just Philippot (clouda peasant drama extended to the dimensions of a macabre and fantastic story; Acidclimate disaster film) and Stéphan Castang (telework survivor Vincent must die) have this very French thing about sprinkling socio-economic reality with fantasy.
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