‘Gripping’ 8-part drama hailed by fans as the ‘best horror TV show ever made’

Victoire Du Bois in a still from Marianne

Fans have been hooked on French series Marianne since it first aired in 2019, with critics and audiences being obsessed with the eight-part show

hile I can think of nothing worse than watching a show between your fingers or behind the sofa, fans remain obsessed with the horror genre, and one of the pinnacles of it was Marianne.

The French-language series aired on Netflix back in 2019, and it has been haunting the streaming service ever since, carrying a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with fans calling the eight-part programme the “best horror TV show ever made”.

Marianne follows horror author Emma Larsimon as she returns to her hometown in the French countryside, where she discovers that the characters in her successful books are starting to appear in the real world.

The show’s tantalising synopsis reads: “A famous horror writer who is lured back to her hometown discovers that the evil spirit who plagues her dreams is now wreaking havoc in the real world.”

Scroll down for what you need to know, if you dare…

Marianne’s reception

Boasting a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, the critical consensus for the show reads: “Smart and scary with the most unsettling pair of eyes since Nicolas Cage in Vampire’s Kiss, Marianne is pure nightmare fuel.“

One viewer who loved the show enthused: “It’s the best horror TV show ever made. I’ve seen them all and thousands of horror movies,” while a second added: “I loved it, but I love spooky ghost/demon stuff. There were several scenes that really stuck with me, and I enjoyed the story.”

An elderly woman in a still image from Marianne© EMMANUEL GUIMIER
Fans hailed the show as the best ‘horror’ ever made

A third mused: “The first few episodes are amazing and worth the price of admission on their own. That old woman thoroughly freaked me out and almost nothing does anymore,” while a fourth commented: “The first 3 episodes are one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen. Watched it with my GF (who [has] watched hundreds of horror movies with me before without issues), and almost made her cry of pure terror.”

Writing for Sublime Horror, Kellye McBride said: “Overall, Marianne is perhaps one of the best new horror shows of the decade, following Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House and other Netflix original series that take dynamic risks when it comes to horror storytelling.”

Who stars in Marianne?

The show’s cast is led by Victoire Du Bois (Call Me by Your Name), Lucie Boujenah (Little Tickles), Tiphaine Daviot (HP), Ralph Amoussou (Transatlantic) and Bellamine Abdelmalek (A Place to Fight For).

Victoire Du Bois in a still image from Marianne© Emmanuel Guimier
The series is led by Victoire Du Bois

Also featured are Mehdi Mescar (Paris Has Fallen), Alban Lenoir (French Blood), Mireille Herbstmeyer (Sister Disaster), Corinne Valancogne (All Three of Us), Patrick d’Assumçao (The Man in the Basement) and Pierre Aussedat (Cyrano de Bergerac).

Rounding out the show’s cast are Luna Lou (The Summer of All My Parents), Charlie Loiselier (Unremember), Bruni Makaya (A Familiar Stranger), Adam Amara (Croisement Gaza Bd St Germain), Anna Lemarchand (Divorce French Style) and Délia Espinat-Dief (Trac) as the titular Marianne.