Review of Martyrs (2008) by Diego T — 08 Aug 2014

When you're watching a film and the opening credits (which include the phrase "Original Music by Seppuku Paradigm") are laid over images of a bloodied and battered prepubescent girl running away from a disgusting building, where unspeakable horrors were undoubtedly visited upon her, you have to strap yourself in and know what to expect. Sadly, nothing could have prepared me for Martyrs, the French horror film that has been made famous (or infamous) for its graphic depictions of torture and brutality. This is a film so over-the-top that the worst images you just thought of after reading that previous sentence are nothing in comparison to the actual things you will witness watching this film. It's not The Human Centipede, but good God, why not just watch that as well at this point?

Martyrs is the story of Lucie, a young girl who was kidnapped and tormented and later grows up to hunt down her torturers and kill them with a shotgun. Her friend Anna helps her hide the bodies, but in the process of doing so, they discover dark secrets about why this happened to Lucie all those years ago. SPOILERS! BE WARNED! Anyway, a secret group that is obsessed with discovering what happens after death has been torturing young girls for 17 years, trying to get them to a state of euphoric enlightenment so that they may impart some wisdom about the afterlife to the living.

This premise is both intriguing and frighteningly plausible. But the way the movie goes about showing it is gratuitous and chaotic. It's one of those movies that has a great premise, but is sadly let down entirely by a very sloppy execution... er... executions. If you are capable of sitting through some truly disturbing images that would have sullied the innocence of those weaker-stomached than I, then this film is definitely worth watching for its confused moral code, existential story elements, and superbly crafted ending. The unfortunate part is that to get the the best part, you first have to sit through over an hour of some of the most perverse shit ever dreamt up by man.

Final Score for Martyrs: 4/10 stars. I cannot recommend this film in any way from an aesthetic standpoint, but the payoff will certainly make it more than worth it for die-hard horror fans. This movie is not just your typical torture porn (even if it has been called France's version of Saw), as it definitely has elements past those typical genre trappings that allow it to transcend its tropes and cliches a bit. But this doesn't change the fact that after watching this movie, you will want to spoon out your eyeballs and run them through the washing machine a few dozen times. It will please gore junkies and people who want some meaning to their horror films alike, but the general public will remain divided on whether or not this movie is worth watching. I know that I personally felt like a martyr just for sitting through it.