Halloween: 5 French Films that will spook and disturb you

Whether you prefer gory horror or just a touch of the paranormal, here are a selection of French classic and critically acclaimed films from France to add to your Halloween movie list. 

1. La Nuée (The Swarm) 

Available to watch on Netflix in the UK, The Swarm (original title – La Nuée) is a French fantasy horror is about a recently widowed mother who attempts to breed locusts to sell as a protein supplement, only to discover that they are bloodthirsty. Selected for the Cannes Film Festival last year, it has been compared to Hitchcock’s The Birds.  

2. Le Fantôme du Moulin-Rouge   

If you want to get in the Halloween spirit and are also interested in French cinematic history, this 1925 silent film directed by prolific filmmaker René Clair could be for you. At the estate of the mysterious Dr. Renault, strange experiments release a man’s spirit from his body.  

3. Raw 

Released on Blu-ray earlier this year, five years after its cinema release, Raw is a gruesome horror and the debut film from French director Julia Ducournau. It follows a student who enters veterinary college as a vegetarian but after some cruel hazing begins finds herself craving raw meat, a feeling which soon grows in to a cannibalistic desire. 

4. Les Enfants Terribles  

This 1950 French classic directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and based on the 1929 novel by Jean Cocteau is a drama in which a psychologically manipulative adult brother and sister played by Nicole Stéphane and Edouard Dermithe shut themselves off from the world and play an intense series of mind games.  

5. Victimes   

Nominated for an award at the 2012 Strasbourg Fantastic Film Festival, Victimes was the debut from French director Robin Entreinger. Suspenseful and disturbing, the film follows an anti-social young man called François as he undertakes sessions with a psychiatrist and uncovers the depths of his potential for violence.