Seedy then, if less so now. The central plot twist of Ira Levin's play Deathtrap (1982) is a direct lift from Diabolique. About halfway through, Diabolique peaks. Diabolique (1996) In 1955, A hitchcockian thriller called Les Diaboliques scared up French audiences with high tense suspense and a shocking surprise ending that had everybody talking. ... its brilliant ending is replaced by a scene of meaningless stupidity. The subtitles from the Prime Video version of Les Diaboliques are pretty bad. His version of the film features beautiful cinematography and little else. Stone tries to clean things up. Shortly after, television shows like The Twilight Zone and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour would routinely use twist endings. Stone and Adjani become antsy. Even the foolproof ending of "Diabolique" has been butchered in ways that are consistent with the new film's coarseness. Unfortunately, the film's supposed to be a thriller. If it had accomplished nothing else, "Diabolique" would deserve our affection for two reasons: It contains the original of Peter Falk's TV character Columbo, and it inspired one of the funniest stories in screen history. The mono mix also includes the alternate version of the ending credits, as once included in the original 1977 home-video release. Diabolique (1996) The new version of Diabolique is yet another example of a remake gone very, very wrong. It's fun to see Kathy Bates and Chazz Palminteri chew the scenery, and it just has that '90s thriller 'vibe' that I … March 22, 1996, Section C, Page 12 Buy Reprints. A … Diabolique (1996) is a pale remake of the legendary Clouzot masterwork foisted upon us by director Jeremiah S. Chechik (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Benny and Joon, The Avengers.) Yes, as a remake of Les Diaboliques, this is a travesty, but like the retread of 'Spoorloos' (released three years earlier in 1993), Diabolique is a highly entertaining guilty pleasure. The movie's shock killing paved the way for such movies as Psycho (1960). March 22, 1996 The ending to "Diabolique" has got to be one of the funniest finales I've ever seen. Diabolique openly attacks a male-dominated structure, letting some feminine fire through the door. Diabolique (1996) 17 February 2003 5 August 2020. March 24, 1996 Diabolique By JANET MASLIN eneath the surface of "Diabolique," Henri-Georges Clouzot's elegantly perverse 1955 thriller about two women plotting the murder of their mutual lover, lie bottomless reserves of malice and kinky intrigue. Adjani panics. Diabolique (1996) Sharon Stone, Isabelle Adjani, Chazz Palminteri, Kathy Bates, Spalding Gray, Shirley Knight, D: Jeremiah S. Chechik. Diabolique (1996) The twist ending of Diabolique entered pop-culture like a tidal wave. Being a Sharon Stone thriller from the ‘90s, things turn toward bisexuality. Diabolique (1996) Directed by Jeremiah Chechik / Jeremiah S. Chechik. Tension rises. ... [PLOT SPOILERS] The original ending was one of the great cinematic shock twists – the husband emerges from the bath, the wife collapses dead, the husband removes his contact lenses and the mistress reveals that it was a set-up to kill the wife off all along. Don Roos' script also has a strange, discordant quality, as though the writer was channeling dialogue from a bad sitcom. 7:38. hide.