Martyrs (2008)

I write my reviews based on two factors, how much I enjoyed watching the movie and how much I enjoy thinking back about it. This movie I don't want to think back to.

This was well produced, well acted and the story is engaging.

But the content is just too horrific. I sat though Saw and Hostel they were OK. This I found really disturbing. I fast forwarded at one point and was privy to watching some poor devil receive a year long kick-in condensed into 6 minutes. As I am not a sado masachist I found these protracted scenes not only disturbing but dull.

I like horror, I like to be scared and when the lights come up think, 'wow, glad that wasn't me getting chopped up'. I feel like I am carrying this around with me.

If you like really gruesome stuff (note the actual gore isn't that bad) then go for it! You'll love this. But if you want to keep a handle on your humanity then stay blissfully unaware of this movie.

Fmovies: I too saw this at Frightfest with an audience full of horror fans. Unlike all the other films of the festival, there were no cheers when characters were bloodily dispatched. Equally there was no unintentionally funny dialogue to snigger at (Jack Bauer vs The Exorcist, anyone?).

What Martyrs did have was a suggestion of the emotional horrors (rather than simply the physical) endured by someone who has been tortured. That was the first half of the film. The second half shifted plot-wise and also provided us with a motivation (however twisted) for the abuse - far more creepy than simply entertainment for the sick, as with Hostel.

Despite it's bleakness I came out feeling uplifted, and evidently this was the director's intention. It could have been purely because this was the only film over the course of the weekend that had any intellectual aspirations, but it did succeed in eliciting strong reactions from the hardened horror audience, both positive and negative.

The nearest I can compare this too is Irreversible, but unlike Gasper Noé's film, I do feel that I can stomach another viewing of Martyrs, and the sooner the better.

Not knowing what to expect, and prejudice towards french films had me wondering if this was worth my precious time. Well it delivered for me movies have to meet 3 criteria:

1) Don't let figure out the ending.

This movie had me fooled but never confused. 2) Do something to keep me watching.

There were times when I was repulsed and disgusted by this movie

but couldn't stop watching it. 3) Evoke a emotional response

There wasn't a moment in this movie where i wasn't feeling

anxious or disturbed

This was a great movie and i would recommend everyone watches it but it should come with an extreme warning, this movie was not scary, it was disturbing and at time you'll feel ashamed of yourself for watching it. But, In the end you'll be glad you did.

Martyrs fmovies. I wonder why so many compare this to movies like "hostel"...

There was only one movie coming up my mind after having seen this one: Clive Barker's "Hellraiser" (and other works from him...)

Other comparisons? OK, let's compare this to "high tension"... yes, we get realism. but then? There are too many movies recently that do nothing but hide their lack of spirit and story... in the end the audience is left alone without a believable motivation for what happened...

"Martyrs" is different. It's scary and disturbing. It's painful to watch and still there is some kind of relief. You may separate that movie into three segments... and the first two would make a whole movie on their own. What happens then takes the story to whole new level and the audience to a whole new perspective. With a cynical bang in the end.

I liked it.

Having missed the opportunity to catch this at the Midnight Madness showing in TIFF08, I decided to go against all stated horror movie rules and watched this today around midday at a complex in downtown Toronto.. It's difficult to know what to say about this movie really; like a birth or a death, you really have to experience it yourself and draw your own conclusions. What I will say is that as a committed horror freak, rare is the occasion when I tense up and watch a film contorted, somehow trying to protect myself from what I'm putting myself through.. It contains enough tough to see horror/gore to satisfy the bloodhounds (though it doesn't feel like another attempt to up the gore ante for the sake of it, thankfully) and then - if you can watch it and many couldn't - transcends the genre totally with a jaw-dropping final act which if you're interested in the human condition and the capacity for seemingly normal people to do incredibly bad things will have you asking questions for some time to come and recognising that when horror and ideas mesh successfully, the result can be breathtaking. Absolutely not enjoyable but there again if you go to see a horror flick at a film festival and you know beforehand that it originally received an X-certificate in France, kicking up an almighty stink in the process - well, you know that an open mind is the least you can bring to bear. With that in mind I would recommend Martyrs as a film of incredible tension, harrowing physical violence and indelible imagery; unsurprisingly, the director name-checked Dario Argento during the Q&A as a major influence in his youth and there is a clear and confident signature in the work which suggests some parallels can be made between the two film-makers. I loved this movie and for those who have already posted comments good, bad or indifferent (and I really can't imagine a neutral response!) I hope like myself you have come away with a genuine sense of having seen something the like of which we are unlikely to see for some time..

The film was introduced by the film's writer director Pascal Laugier at this year's Frightfest in London. The organiser's referred to the film as "The film they most wanted" of the 28 shown at the festival. It was easy to see why. Of all the films I saw at this year's Frightfest, Martyrs was not my favourite but without a doubt it is the one that plays on my mind the most. The film has been compared to both Hostel and Hellraiser but I think it has a lot more substance than both of those films. The central performances are top notch and Jessie Pham as the young Lucie is very convincing, completely holding your attention. So why only 7 out of 10? As well made as this film is, the subject matter is just so utterly disturbing I wanted this film to end a long time before it actually did. It is not a film that is to be enjoyed. It is not the escapism that you may be looking for. The first Act is a revenge story on a family who may or may not have been responsible for the kidnapping and torture of a young girl 15 years previously. It is the second Act though that is the more disturbing. The viewer wants it to end almost as much as the girl captured wants her ordeal to end. This is a must-see movie but certainly one that is going to divide audiences right down the middle.