Netflix is home to an abundance of disturbing horror series and movies, but the streaming service hasn't released as much new, original horror in recent years. That leaves us fans with hours spent prowling through the streamer's catalog looking for something we haven't yet seen.
Well, the good news is that there are some really underrated gems on Netflix. One of them is the French horror series Marianne, about an author named Emma Larsimon (Victoire Du Bois) who finds that one of the antagonists in her stories has taken on a life of its own. When released in 2019, Marianne became an instant hit on Netflix and many people were clamoring that it was one of the most frightening shows they'd ever seen.
Years later and Marianne remains a genuine frightfest, though it's likely that many folks missed out on the show because it didn't ever become mainstream and Netflix, unfortunately, canceled the show after just one season. But despite that, it's still worth watching. It has been a few years since I watched Marianne and I still can't shake the way it made me feel.
What is Marianne about?
Emma's book antagonist takes on a life of her own (literally) in this terrifying series. The titular character, the villainous Marianne, is an evil witch from Emma's books who takes possession of a woman named Madam Daugeron, mother of one of Emma's childhood friends.
The "Marianne" we see has taken up residence inside Daugeron's body, luring Emma back to her hometown and forcing her to continue storytelling so she can gain new life. But what is Marianne? She's a particularly evil witch who will do whatever is necessary to grow her power, and that includes sadistic rituals, murder, and all sorts of other disturbing practices.
I'm a fan of witches in horror movies and shows, but often the witches we get are watered down or quite tame. It feels like most depictions of witchy women are PG, it's not often we get a truly twisted and dark witch villain. Thankfully, Marianne has that in spades and Mireille Herbstmeyer's performance as Daugeron is downright uncanny. Everything about how the actress moves and acts makes you feel uneasy, like she's tapped into something ancient and primal.
There's something very unnerving about how the witch in this story operates, basically all the worst nightmares you could have about a witch coming true in one place. It's sad that Netflix canceled the show but at least it wraps up everything in the finale (although it does leave a little hook for a future season).
Add Marianne to your Netflix watchlist here.