Film
Satan
A French horror-comedy about six young clubgoers who stumble into a shepherd's occult nocturnal rituals. It's deliberately absurd and campy, blending genuine unease with gallows humour. Made for viewers who appreciate genre films that don't take themselves too seriously, and who find the collision of everyday banality with the supernatural darkly funny rather than tiresome.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like horror that starts from a bad night out and lets its cheap-thrill mood curdle into something nastier, with dark jokes riding alongside the dread.
Skip it if you need your horror lean and scary from the first frame, since this one sprawls, meanders through its comedy, and leans hard on blasphemous, sleazy provocation.
What it asks of you: Expect a brisk ninety-four minutes that drifts before it tightens, and a stomach for crude, unsettling material rather than polished scares.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Martyrs2008
A landmark French extreme horror that builds from domestic invasion thriller into philosophical meditation on suffering and transcendence. Visually stunning and genuinely challenging without relying on jump scares or gore for its own sake.
But It's relentlessly bleak and contains graphic violence that some will find exploitative rather than purposeful. The pacing demands patience in its second half.
High Tension2003
A French slasher that subverts expectations with a shocking twist, stylish direction, and genuine dread. It proves genre filmmaking from this region was exciting well before the extreme wave crested.
But The twist divides audiences sharply. Some find it revelatory; others feel cheated by the recontextualisation of what came before.
Inside2007
Brutal French New Wave horror about a pregnant woman under siege. Unflinching and visceral, it commits entirely to its nightmare logic without apology or levity. Essential viewing for horror fans who want to understand where the genre went.
But It's genuinely traumatic. Extended sequences of graphic violence aren't metaphorical or coded—they're the point. Not recommended if you're watching to relax.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Satan
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Possession1981
Both treat the occult and the grotesque with the kind of absurdist deadpan you'd find at a New Wave arthouse screening rather than a genre film. Both feature protagonists adrift in cosmic horror they barely understand.
An Andrzej Żuławski film that plays like a relationship breakdown filmed as visceral, avant-garde horror. It features body-snatcher sci-fi, creatures by Carlo Rambaldi, and Isabelle Adjani giving a completely unhinged performance. Genuinely alien and unsettling in ways modern horror rarely attempts.
But It's deliberately obscure and structurally chaotic. The narrative deliberately resists comprehension. You need to surrender to mood over meaning, which frustrates viewers seeking plot coherence.
More like this (8)
Climax2018
A dance troupe's rehearsal spirals into nightmare after their sangria is spiked with LSD. Gaspar Noé directs with balletic horror and mounting dread. The collision of physical beauty with psychological dissolution is hypnotic.
But The second half is deliberately difficult to parse. If you need narrative clarity and traditional plot resolution, you'll find the deliberate abstraction alienating.
The Wailing2016
A Korean horror-thriller where a mysterious stranger arrives in a village and events spiral into moral ambiguity. It's intelligent, gorgeously shot, and genuinely unsettling without relying on gore. The mystery lingers long after.
But It's 156 minutes and deliberately obscures its own narrative logic. You'll need to sit with uncertainty, and some plot strands resist easy resolution.
Raw2017
A French-Belgian film about a veterinary student developing cannibalistic urges after a hazing incident. It's a coming-of-age body-horror film that's both grotesque and genuinely compassionate about its protagonist's alienation.
But Body horror and gore may feel gratuitous if you're not interested in the psychosexual metaphor beneath. It's deliberately provocative in ways that can read as shock for its own sake.
Let the Right One In2008
A Swedish vampire film that privileges atmosphere and intimate character work over action. It's a film about friendship and loneliness that happens to be horror. Beautifully shot and genuinely moving beneath the genre wrapping.
But It's slow and deliberately paced. The horror elements are sparse and understated. If you want thrills and scares, the restraint will feel like a missed opportunity.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle2019
An adaptation of Shirley Jackson's novella about a woman and her uncle living as outcasts in their family home. Weird, darkly comic, and visually distinctive. It captures that peculiar American gothic mood.
But It's aggressively eccentric and narratively slight. Some viewers will find the oddness charming; others will think it's style with insufficient substance.
A Tale of Two Sisters2003
A Korean horror film about two sisters and their stepmother that works as both domestic nightmare and supernatural parable. Visually gorgeous with genuine jump scares and emotional depth beneath the unease.
But The narrative ambiguity extends to the ending, which resists definitive interpretation. If you need clarity about what actually happened, you'll leave frustrated.
Happiness1998
Both films present evil and transgression erupting into ordinary social spaces—a shepherd materialising during a night out, or obscenity seeping through the phonelines of suburbia. Both find the collision blackly amusing.
Todd Solondz's dark comedy that pivots between mundane suburban despair and shocking psychological horror. It's funny and deeply uncomfortable, capturing the violence that lives beneath ordinary lives. Genuinely transgressive without being gratuitous.
But The subject matter includes pedophilia and sexual abuse. It's not exploited for thrills, but the unflinching approach will alienate viewers who need their dark comedy distanced from real harm.
Suspiria1977
Both are European horror films from an era when the genre was unafraid to prioritise atmosphere and visual composition over coherent narrative. Both treat their central transgression—Satan worship—as aesthetic phenomenon rather than theological threat.
Dario Argento's masterpiece about a ballet student entering a school that's secretly a coven. A proto-music-video aesthetic of primary colours, geometric set design, and Goblin's pulsating score. It's horror as pure visual and sonic experience.
But The plot is paper-thin and the acting is frankly terrible. If narrative coherence and naturalistic performance matter to you, this will seem like style absurdly outweighing substance.
People
Cast
Vincent CasselJoseph
Leïla BekhtiYasmine
Julie-Marie ParmentierJeanne
Ladj LyLadj
Nico Le Phat TanThaï- Gérald ThomassinMaurice
- Georgette CrochonMarie
François LevantalLe pompiste / Le chirurgien
Quentin LasbazeillesGilou
Guillaume BacquetBébert
Directing
- Kim ChapironDirector
Writing
- Christian ChapironWriter
- Kim ChapironWriter
Production
- Gigi AkokaCasting
- Éric NévéProducer
- Kim ChapironProducer
- Vincent CasselProducer