While this has an interesting setting that correctly looks like late 19th century Paris, it's never as mesmerizing or as scary as it could be. That is outside the gruesome murder of a young woman and her very old mother, seen briefly. The old lady is for some reason obsessively counting coins while the daughter sits quietly by, their fate soon to come and calling attention by their brutal screams that wakes up an entire neighborhood.
When the fiancee (Val Kilmer) of young Rebecca De Mornay is accused of the murder, she basically badgers retired detective father George C. Scott to take the case, and even though she's doing the bulk of the talking, he easily outacts her. In fact, of the three major players, he's the one doing any emoting although none of them seem French. When someone appears who does speak French, they do so outrageously and it's unintentionally comic. Nice looking though, but a disappointment. The original 1932 version is much better since it plays more on the horror elements and focuses on the fiend which is a teeny aspect of the plot here.
When the fiancee (Val Kilmer) of young Rebecca De Mornay is accused of the murder, she basically badgers retired detective father George C. Scott to take the case, and even though she's doing the bulk of the talking, he easily outacts her. In fact, of the three major players, he's the one doing any emoting although none of them seem French. When someone appears who does speak French, they do so outrageously and it's unintentionally comic. Nice looking though, but a disappointment. The original 1932 version is much better since it plays more on the horror elements and focuses on the fiend which is a teeny aspect of the plot here.