1. Les Diaboliques (1955)
A wife and her husband's mistress team up together to kill the hateful, sadistic Michel - a headmaster - in a boarding school. They dump his body in a swimming pool to make it look like he accidentally drowned, but there is a problem. The body goes missing and the two paranoid women are at each other's throats, threatening to expose one another. The intrigue between the two builds to a horrifying climax in which secrets are blown open and nasty shocks are revealed. An ingenious horror film that is never over the top or in your face, Les Diaboliques maintains its tension through paranoia and psychological horror rather than more visceral things like gore. The scene in which Michel rises from the bath tub with only the whites of his eyes showing is one of the most frightening scenes in the history of horror movies. Highly regarded by many luminaries in the world of cinema, Les Diaboliques was given the prestigious Criterion Collection treatment in both 1999 and then again in 2011. An absolute must not just for fans of Gallic horror, but also for all horror fans in general.
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