Les diaboliques (1955) 4.5/5 - Wow!!! If all the films in this dictation are going to be this good, I'm going to blow right through my list of shame. At first, I thought Vera Clouzot was a little wooden, but as the film progressed, I realized that she was so supposed to appear detached after living with such a bastard of a husband. Simone Signoret and Paul Meurisse were both excellent in their roles, but the one character who made this film for me was Charles Vanel as Fichet, the retired police inspector. I can now see where they got the inspiration for the Columbo character. Every moment he is on screen, he is just annoying enough that I felt that the two women were going to find away to do away with him also. Great acting, a screenplay with enough twists to make a bag of pretzels and one of the best scenes of horror I've ever witnessed in a film. They say that this was the scariest film before Psycho was released in 1960, and while that film has two very scary scenes, both of the frightening moments are manipulated through the use of music to add to the fear and tension. For me, less is more, and the climactic horror scene in this film works better than the two in Psycho, because of the lack of music. It's pure imagery which forces you to feel the fear that Christina is experiencing in that moment. This is definitely going into my top twenty of all time.