La Main Du Diable aka The Devil’s Hand (1943)

 

“ A Classic Piece of French Horror Fantasy Cinema”

Eureka are bringing out on Blu-ray French director Maurice Tourneur’s horror fantasy classic, made during the height of the German occupation of France.

At an isolated mountain hotel (which has a ruined abbey next door to it) cut off by an avalanche, the increasingly frustrated guests are surprised by the arrival of one-handed Roland (Pierre Fresnay). His only luggage is a mysterious wooden box wrapped in cloth. He is, apparently, being pursued by a man dressed in black and carrying a coffin, and Roland has a fascinating explanation for all of this.

Roland is, or was, an artist, one whose paintings are so poor his gold-digging girlfriend Irene (Josseline Gaël) plans to leave him. Depressed, the restaurant he finds himself in just happens to be owned by a chef who owns a magic talisman: a severed hand in a box. He says he will sell the talisman to Roland for an absurdly low sum so that the chef's soul may be saved from damnation. Roland eventually agrees and talent, wealth and Irene are suddenly all his. But it’s not long before a little man in a black suit turns up to explain to Roland that while this life may be great for him now, the afterlife most certainly won’t be.

THE DEVIL’S HAND is European horror from a time when there wasn’t an awful lot of it around. In fact ask any horror fan to name something genre from 1943 and they’ll probably say FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN. Maurice Tourneur’s film is a far cry from a monster rally, however. Its adult themes and arresting imagery make it feel much more like a feature-length version of the kind of story that might have ben included in Ealing’s classic DEAD OF NIGHT (1945). The acting across the board is perfect for the material, with Fresnay haunted and Pierre Palau as the devil appropriately mischievous while at the same time suggesting an entity of pure malevolence.

Extras on Eureka’s Blu-ray, a 1080p restoration by Gaumont, include an incisive and educational commentary from James Oliver who deals with not just the genre of ‘hand horror’ but contextualises the film within the historical period in which it was made. This is further expanded upon by Samm Deighan’s illuminating 19 minute video essay on French fantasy cinema under the German occupation. Finally there’s a 46 minute documentary on the film that’s been ported over from the French Gaumont release of 2010. The disc also comes with a collector’s booklet featuring new writing on director Maurice Tourneur by Barry Nevin.

Maurice Tourneur’s THE DEVIL’S HAND is out on Blu-ray from Eureka on Monday 16th March 2026

Else (2025)

“French Arthouse Melding of Lovecraft and TETSUO Creates Something Beautiful”

You won’t have seen anything quite like ELSE, the debut feature from director and co-writer Thibault Emin which is getting a digital release from Blue Finch. Set almost entirely within the apartment of Anx (Matthieu Sampeur) the film begins with the aftermath of what he believes to be a one night stand with Cass (Edith Proust). There’s some knockabout romantic interaction and the whole thing is played very lightly, with the production design of Anx’s flat so bright and garish it could almost be mistaken for the playroom of a local kindergarten.

Cass leaves and over the next few days we stay with Ax as he begins to learn of a new disease which is sweeping the country. The symptoms? People seem to be turning to stone and, in some cases, even merging with the concrete of their surroundings. Things soon reach epidemic proportions and the government initiates lockdown. Reunited with Cass the two hole up in Anx’s flat, occasionally interacting with other neighbours by voice only down the laundry chute. Meanwhile the building as a whole begins to change, and it becomes apparent that once things have settled down the world is going to be a very different place.

        Mixing body horror with cosmic horror, one of the many interesting aspects of ELSE is that as our protagonists mutate and meld with their surroundings, so the film changes too. Beginning as a romcom, by the halfway mark the film is more akin to a grim black and white eastern European art house project, while by the end the human characters, and the world they now inhabit, have become nameless things of ethereal beauty. 

ELSE is not a fast paced film but it is one full of imagery that will stay with you. Just be prepared to go with the broad swings from French comedy to Cronenbergian horror to otherworldly serenity and you’ll find yourself enjoying a unique cinematic experience. And don't worry, the title does get explained. Here's the trailer:

Thibault Emin’s ELSE is out on digital from Blue Finch on Monday 2nd March 2026

Dracula (2025)

"A Unique Interpretation"

A quite bizarre melding of elements from Francis Ford Coppola's BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (which this film leans on heavily), Tom Tykwer's PERFUME, and the MINIONS movie, Luc Besson's singular take on the most famous vampire tale of all is getting a digital release from Signature Entertainment, with a Blu-ray release to follow.

Besson's new film keeps the Coppola prologue, suggesting that Count Dracula (here played by Caleb Landry Jones) began life as Prince Vladimir of Wallachia, a normal human being who at 'God's request' defeated the Turks only for his beloved wife Elisabeta (Zoe Bleu) to end up dead. Vlad curses God and vampirism happens.

Then the film fast forwards 400 years, relocating events to Paris and giving us possibly the best and most interesting part of the film. A vampire-hunting priest who is never named but is played by Christoph Waltz is called to a Paris asylum to help with the case of Maria (a very vigorous Matilda De Angelis) who is Obviously a Vampire. Meanwhile in Transylvania the worst Jonathan Harker ever ends up in Dracula's castle where the Count's ability to move food without touching it earns the 400 year old vampire a 'Nice!' before Harker continues with everyday chit chat.

After that we get a lengthy backstory for the Count. The irresistibility to his bite turns out to be because of a perfume he has developed, one the remarkable effects of which are demonstrated in a number of elaborate scenes that must have used up a lot of the costume (and dance) budget, before he finally gets to Paris and Mina Murray (Bleu once more), the inevitable runaround, and a climax that involves a big gun battle with soldiers and cannons.

Is Luc Besson's DRACULA any good? Or rather, is any of Luc Besson's DRACULA any good? Well, there's a bit of visual spectacle, a show stopping decapitation near the end that's a lot of fun, and the absence of Van Helsing (replaced by Waltz's priest) is an interesting touch. Purists will likely get a headache very quickly at the liberties that have been taken with the novel, while probably everyone will be scratching their heads at why Dracula has an unexplained army of comedy gargoyle minions. Those who stick with it can play spot the filmic 'influences' because aside from the three above there are plenty more, oh yes indeed. Likely to become no-one's favourite version of the story, Luc Besson's DRACULA is still probably worth watching once, if only out of sheer curiosity value. Here's a trailer:

Luc Besson's DRACULA aka DRACULA: A LOVE TALE is out on Digital from Signature Entertainment on Monday 1st December 2025, with a Blu-ray release to follow on Monday 22nd December 2025

Eyes Without a Face 4K (1960)

The very first film I wrote about for House of Mortal Cinema gets a sparkling 4K restoration release on UHD, Apple TV and Amazon Prime courtesy of the BFI.

Plastic surgeon Dr Genessier (Pierre Brasseur) has, through his careless driving, caused extensive damage to the face of his daughter Christianne (Edith Scob). Being the kind of surgeon usually encountered in pulp horror fiction of the period, Genessier hasn’t heard of trying to take skin grafts from elsewhere on Christianne’s body to try and improve her appearance, even though he gives a lecture on the subject at the start of the film. But why should he when he lives so near Paris and there’s a bevy of beautiful women whom he can kidnap and graphically remove the faces of in increasingly desperate acts of transplantation?

With its pulpy source material it’s not surprising that George Franju’s film kick-started a subgenre of horror cinema that concentrated on the lurid rather than the lyrical aspects of his movie. The tale of the surgeon responsible for destroying his own daughter’s face and willing to do anything to repair his actions is the stuff of pulp paperback luridness, and Franju certainly elevates it way above its penny dreadful potential, making as fine a horror film as one could hope for with the material. 

Apart from the nasty bits there’s a pervasive gloom to the film that serves to augment the desperate situation of its central character, wandering her father’s isolated country mansion, a literally faceless wraith assumed dead by the rest of the world. One imagines the city-set scenes at the police station and its environs would be grey even if the picture were in colour, and it never seems to stop raining. Almost from the beginning there is no suggestion that the film is going to end anything other than badly, which is possibly why the final scene is all the more moving, simultaneously suggesting hope and hopelessness, freedom and utter loneliness.  

EYES WITHOUT A FACE was made in 1959 but it’s best viewed out of context with contemporary horror cinema of the time, when Hammer was well on its way to becoming the most successful producer of horror films in the world, Hitchcock was about to make PSYCHO, and British company Anglo Amalgamated had just released Michael Powell’s PEEPING TOM. Compared with these slicker movies the Franju film seems a bit creaky. The horror is no less effective, but nevertheless the movie feels as if it belongs to a different age, making the surgical scenes and the deaths at the climax possibly even more shocking and unexpected. 

As I’ve mentioned above, the BFI’s 4K transfer looks excellent, and really gives this film a new lease of life. Extras include a new commentary track from Alexandra Heller-Nicholas with the archival commentary track by Tim Lucas also present and correct. We also get Mark Kermode's introduction to the film from 2016 (3 minutes), a fifty minute Franju career overview (LES FLEURS MALADIVES), an interview with Edith Scob from 2014 (17 minutes), and two short films: MONSIEUR ET MADAME CURIE is fourteen minutes long and tells of the work of the scientists from the point of view of Marie Curie; and LE PREMIER NUIT, which comes with a Georges Delerue score and tells the twenty minute tale of a young boy spending a night on the Metro. The disc also comes with a reversible sleeve featuring new art and a booklet with archival writing on the film. 

Georges Franju's EYES WITHOUT A FACE is out on 4K UHD, Apple TV and Amazon Prime from the BFI on Monday 20th October 2025

Baby Blood (1990)

"If Frank Henenlotter and Peter Jackson had a French Baby"

Studio Canal are releasing Alain Robak's funny, gory French horror picture in an impressive, crystal clear 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative on UHD and Blu-ray.

A leopard is transported from Africa to a French zoo where it explodes. The creature that was living inside it makes its way to the caravan of Yanka (Emmanuelle Escourrou), where it burrows into her womb and communicates with her telepathically, ordering her to drink human blood to feed it.

Yanka leaves the circus (understandably) and ends up in Paris where she starts killing men as her pregnancy continues to develop. Once she reaches term it's time for even more gory horrors, posing the question: who will survive and what will be left of Yanka?

A gory, funny, over the top piece of French horror that doesn't just channel Frank Henenlotter or early Peter Jackson but also features a sequence that wouldn't be out of place in a Ray Cooney bedroom farce, BABY BLOOD also offers a number of in-jokes for those more familiar with French cinema of the period. French writer and director Jacques Audiard (EMILIA PEREZ) appears in it as a jogger who ends up as one of Yanka's victims, and there's a cameo from BAXTER the bull terrier from Jerome Boivin's 1989 the film of the same name, played by the same dog actor (Chimbot). 

Studio Canal's disc comes with plentiful extras. Kim Newman provides a new 20 minute piece where he talks about the film, its influence, and very helpfully points out even more of the French cinema in-jokes that many likely miss. There are two commentary tracks, the first with director Robak and star Escourrou which is a jolly chat, while the second with Lee Gambin and Jarret Gahan is more laid back but also more academic. A batch of interviews filmed in 2019 include Robak (18 minutes), Escourrou (20 minutes), DP Bernard Dechet (12 minutes), and actors Jean-Francois Gallotte (8 minutes) and Christian Sinniger (6 minutes). The set also comes with four art cards. 

Alain Robak's BABY BLOOD is out from Studio Canal on 4K UHD and Blu-ray on Monday 6th October 2025

The Vourdalak (2023)

"Like a French 'Ghost Story For Christmas' "

Aleksei Tolstoy's short story 'La Famille Du Vourdalak" has done pretty well in terms of adaptations over the years, with big screen versions directed by Mario Bava (as part of 1963's BLACK SABBATH), Giorgio Ferroni (1972's NIGHT OF THE DEVILS) and now this new French version from director and co-writer Adrian Beau, which is just as good as its predecessors. In fact, with its winter pastoral backdrop and a distinctly 1970s feels to  the photography, this one almost feels like the version Jean Rollin might have made of the story.

The Marquis d'Urfe, emissary of the King of France, gets lost and ends up at the chateau of a rather strange family. The patriarch has gone off to fight the Turks, with strict instructions that should he return after six nights he must not be allowed entrance as he will have become a vampire-like vourdalak and will destroy the family.

You can guess what happens. What you won't guess is that the vourdalak is rather originally and gruesomely portrayed using a full-size puppet, voiced by the director himself. Slightly resembling Max Schreck's NOSFERATU as interpreted by the Muppets, as promised this weird creation begins to destroy the family. Will the Marquis be able to destroy the menace? Or will he himself end up dead as well?

As mentioned above, THE VOURDALAK benefits immensely from authentic locations, a sensible script and performances that sometimes balance on the knife edge between macabre and crazy. The style of photography is reminiscent of numerous BBC productions of the 1970s, including Leslie Megahey's SCHALKEN THE PAINTER and the GHOST STORIES FOR CHRISTMAS series. THE VOURDALAK premiered at the Venice Film Festival where it was nominated for Best Film and I can believe it, because this is a must watch for fans of 'classic' EuroHorror. Let's have a trailer:

Adrian Beau's THE VOURDALAK is out on Digital from Blue Finch Releasing on Monday 16th September 2024

Schlitter: Evil in the Woods (2024)

"Like a SAW film if John Kramer was a French Lumberjack"

Pierre Mouchet's highly entertaining, gory, revenge-driven horror thriller gets a deserved UK release on Digital from Signature Entertainment.

When he was a boy, Lucas was witness to his brutal lumberjack father accidentally running over Lucas' best friend Matthieu. Years later he is summoned back to the family home after a fire has destroyed it and two charred corpses were found within. Matthieu's father never found out how the boy died and he seems overly willing to help Lucas and his friends. Is he as friendly as he seems? Is he actually wheelchair-bound? And doesn't he seem to have an unnatural penchant for designing complex animal traps?

The title smacks of comedy but schlitting apparently refers to the lumberjack practice of shifting logs using a sledge. That said, while SCHLITTER is played dead serious, if you're the kind of person who can chuckle at the cheekily outrageous excesses of a SAW film this is going to be right up your alley. In fact while SAW has Jigsaw, Schlitter's villain could perhaps be nicknamed Bandsaw.

If there's one quibble to be had it's that the ending is a little abrupt and could have done with a bit more wit and a little less grimness, but seeing as this is modern French horror we're talking about here, this is still the lightest and most entertaining genre piece to come out of the country for many years. A real treat. Let's have a trailer:

SCHLITTER: EVIL IN THE WOODS is out on Digital from Signature Entertainment on Monday 26th August 2024