New Wave of French Horror
Some films considered as part of the New French Extremity rework elements of the horror genre. Other contemporary French horror films with a similar sensibility include Sheitan, Ils, Haute Tension, Frontier(s) and À l'interieur. The Belgian film Calvaire has also been associated with this trend.
Pascal Laugier, director of the controversial horror film Martyrs, disagrees with the idea of there being a horror revival in France:
| “ | The fact is that we are much more successful in foreign countries and in our homeland it's always the same stuff where you're never a prophet..What I mean is that even the horror fans, the French ones, they are very condescending about French horror films. It's still a hell to find the money, a hell to convince people that we are legitimate to make this kind of movie in France. So I know from an American point of view and probably an English one too, there is a kind of new wave of modern horror film, but it's not true. It's still hell. My country produces almost 200 films a year and there are like 2 or 3 horror films. It's not even an industry, French horror cinema is very low budget, it's kinda prototype. I think that a genre really exists when it's industrially produced like the Italians did 600 spaghetti westerns. So we can't really say that there is a wave of horror in French Cinema, I don't believe it. | ” |
Laugier does, however, acknowledge the existence of a broader wave of new European horror. He notes Spain, France, England and Sweden as contributors.
Read more about this topic: New French Extremity
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