critics consensus

This seedy remake of a classic French chiller goes through the motions in recreating the original's diabolical plot, but without the genuine suspense or stylistic finesse. Read critic reviews

Show all services

Rate And Review

Super Reviewer

Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

Awesome!

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

What did you think of the movie? (optional)
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
Super Reviewer
Step 2 of 2

How did you buy your ticket?

Let's get your review verified.
Fandango

AMCTheatres.com or AMC AppNew

Enter your Ticket Confirmation# located in your email.More Info

Cinemark Coming Soon

We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.

Regal Coming Soon

We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.

Theater box office or somewhere else
By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
Super Reviewer

Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

Awesome!

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

What did you think of the movie? (optional)
How did you buy your ticket?
- Fandango
- AMCTheatres.com or AMC AppNew
  
  Enter your Ticket Confirmation# located in your email.More Info
- Cinemark Coming Soon
  
  We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
- Regal Coming Soon
  
  We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
- Theater box office or somewhere else
By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.
You haven’t finished your review yet, want to submit as-is?

You can always edit your review after.
Are you sure?

Verified reviews are considered more trustworthy by fellow moviegoers.
Want to submit changes to your review before closing?

Diabolique Photos

View All Photos (11)

Movie Info

A wife (Isabelle Adjani) and a mistress (Sharon Stone) conspire to murder the brutal headmaster (Chazz Palminteri) of a school for boys, then the body disappears.

Rating:

R
Genre:

mystery and thriller, gay and lesbian
Original Language:

English
Director:

Jeremiah S. Chechik
Producer:

Marvin Worth
Writer:

Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Don Roos
Release Date (Streaming):

Oct 22, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA):

$16.5M
Runtime:

1h 47m
Production Co:

Warner Brothers, Morgan Creek Productions
Sound Mix:

Surround

Cast & Crew

Sharon Stone
Nicole Horner

Isabelle Adjani
Mia Baran

Chazz Palminteri
Guy Baran

Kathy Bates
Shirley Voguel

Spalding Gray
Simon Veatch

Shirley Knight
Edie Danziger

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for Diabolique

All Critics (28) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (23)

Quote not available.

September 7, 2011 | Rating: C+ | Full Review…

Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
Quote not available.

June 18, 2002 | Rating: 1/4 | Full Review…

Peter Stack
San Francisco Chronicle
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.

January 1, 2000 | Rating: 2/4

Mike Clark
USA Today
Quote not available.

January 1, 2000 | Rating: 1/4

Susan Stark
Detroit News
Film lovers should study the two Diaboliques side by side, in order to see how the Hollywood assembly line trashed its treasure from the past.

January 1, 2000 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Quote not available.

January 1, 2000 | Rating: 1.5/4 | Full Review…

James Berardinelli
ReelViews
The plot and premise of Diabolique are absurdly implausible, but that's the power of good movies: they make you believe in the impossible.

June 20, 2019 | Full Review…

C.J. Prince
Way Too Indie
There are problems with Stone's performance, which lacks the requisite ambiguity to make sense of the plot. But Adjani carries Diabolique by creating a Mia who is susceptible to any hint that the dead man may somehow have risen

May 2, 2018 | Full Review…

Malcolm Johnson
Hartford Courant
The new Diabolique mostly dispenses with subtlety, contenting itself with regularly scheduled cathartic jolts that pass for suspense in our degraded culture.

July 30, 2007 | Rating: 1/5 | Full Review…

Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
Quote not available.

July 29, 2006 | Rating: 4/5

Susan Granger
www.susangranger.com
Quote not available.

June 30, 2005 | Rating: 1/5

Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
If it makes at least one person search out and discover the original version, then it's all worth it.

April 3, 2005 | Rating: 2/5

Scott Weinberg
eFilmCritic.com

View All Critic Reviews (28)

Audience Reviews for Diabolique

Jan 19, 2009

Not as good as the original.

Steve S Super Reviewer
Jun 16, 2008

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

Martin S Super Reviewer
Mar 22, 2008

Skip this and see the original, please.

Anthony V Super Reviewer
Nov 08, 2007

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.

Martin D Super Reviewer