Diabolique

SYNOPSIS

If ever a film didn't need or deserve a Hollywood remake, it's Henri-Georges Clouzot's superb, twist-packed 1954 suspense thriller Les Diaboliques, about a corpse that refuses to stay dead. Here, director Jeremiah Chechik (who later achieved infamy with his dreadful take on The Avengers) hasn't got the foggiest idea how to create atmosphere, relying instead on melodramatic performances and the odd thunderstorm. Nothing seems to have any purpose; from Isabelle Adjani's wholly unnecessary early flesh exposure, to swapping the original's male detective to Kathy Bates's breast cancer sufferer. Sharon Stone is suitably icy and Chazz Palminteri convincingly loathsome as the violent husband, but they deserve better than this tiresome trashing of a great movie's memory.