Diabolique (1996)

12% of critics liked it
(26 reviews)
35% of users liked it
(6,726 ratings)

Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic French thriller gets a Hollywood makeover in this glossy remake. Guy Baran (Chazz Palminteri) is the dull, loutish headmaster of a private school that has seen better days. While Guy oversees the day to day operations, the school is actually owned by his wife Mia… More Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic French thriller gets a Hollywood makeover in this glossy remake. Guy Baran (Chazz Palminteri) is the dull, loutish headmaster of a private school that has seen better days. While Guy oversees the day to day operations, the school is actually owned by his wife Mia (Isabelle Adjani), whose spirit has been crushed by Guy's casual cruelty and whose health is frail. Guy has been openly having an affair with one of his teachers, Nicole Horner (Sharon Stone), who has almost as much contempt for Guy as Mia. Mia and Nicole eventually join forces against their common enemy and plan to murder him and conceal the evidence. However, while the killing goes as planned, Guy's body mysteriously disappears from the carefully chosen spot where it was dumped, and when a chatty detective, Shirley Vogel (Kathy Bates) begins asking questions, both women begin to wonder who knows what about their murderous scheme. This was the third remake of Les Diaboliques, following two made-for-TV adaptations, Reflection of Murder and House of Secrets. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 47 min.
Directed By: Jeremiah S. Chechik, Jeremiah Chechik
Written By: Don Roos
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Drama

In Theaters: Mar 22, 1996 Wide
On DVD: Jan 26, 1999
Studio: Warner Home Video

Critic Reviews

Mike Clark, USA Today
The husband is still a brute, and the swimming pool is still moldy, but the new Diabolique fails to translate into anything more than the latest ham-handed Hollywood makeover of a European classic.
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com
The new Diabolique mostly dispenses with subtlety, contenting itself with regularly scheduled cathartic jolts that pass for suspense in our degraded culture.
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
If it makes at least one person search out and discover the original version, then it's all worth it.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
Chechik fails to create any real suspense or thrills and does not seamlessly juggle the serious thriller aspects with the black comedy
Rob Vaux, Flipside Movie Emporium
Silly update of the French classic; the ending is an unforgivable cop-out.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Martin S

I saw this one in the middle of the night. I'm not a fan of sharon stone...but it was pretty good...still not a fan of sharon stone dough
Dean M

Sharon Stone's delightfully slinky outfits are the only genuine attraction in this updated so-called thriller, which pairs her with Isabelle Adjani as the mistress and wife who decide to murder abusive school headmaster Chazz Palminiteri. What was fresh and genuinely frightening… More
Sharon Stone's delightfully slinky outfits are the only genuine attraction in this updated so-called thriller, which pairs her with Isabelle Adjani as the mistress and wife who decide to murder abusive school headmaster Chazz Palminiteri. What was fresh and genuinely frightening in French director Henri-Georges Clouzot's original is old hat here.
Ginny

One of those movies that I liked very much when I was a kid. Sharon Stone was awesome in this movie!
Candy R

Good movie with Kathy Bates and Sharon Stone. A wife and mistress plot to kill their lover, but the body disappears. Suspense movie full of twists and turns.
Lafe F

A suspenseful thriller which has some nice twists.
Steve S

Not as good as the original.
Anthony V

Skip this and see the original, please.