Frédéric Thoraval

Frédéric Thoraval, born on February 18, 1973, in Lorient, Morbihan, France, has a knack for making films feel sharp and alive, even when the story’s going off the rails. The guy’s got this way of slicing up scenes that keeps you glued to the screen, whether it’s the spine-chilling world of Sinister or the wild, pulse-pounding action of District B13. You look at his work on Promising Young Woman (2020), and it’s like—wow, he knows exactly when to turn the knife, so to speak. The tension, the timing, that sense of something just about to snap? That’s Thoraval’s touch, man. He doesn’t just work in one box, either. One minute, he’s piecing together crazy parkour sequences through gritty Paris streets, and the next, he’s building this slow-burn sense of dread in a suburban nightmare. It’s not just about cutting for pace—Thoraval gets the emotional beats, too. There’s a rhythm to his editing that feels almost musical, like he’s conducting the whole thing with a sly grin. It’s wild how his fingerprints are all over some of the most memorable moments in modern genre flicks. His career’s a bit like a mixtape—horror, action, dark comedy, you name it. And honestly, you can tell he’s not afraid to mess with convention, just to get a reaction out of you. That’s probably why his stuff sticks with you long after the credits roll.