Review of Martyrs (2008) by Tony M — 03 Mar 2010

Bobby Flay has nothing on Martyr's.

"Martyr's".

Let's start with a checklist of Horror/Shocking film elements and rate them on a scale of 1-5, (1) being Disney's Up and (5) being High Tension or Ishi the Killer and everything in between. Let's begin!

1. Violence- Martytr's definitely serves up heaps of violence. My favored scene(besides the shocker noted in #4) would be the random acts(slicing) inflicted upon Lucie( Myl`ene Jampanoi) by her "Haunting female creature" or the shotgunning down of an entire family (a few had it coming). It was no Halloween II but it was quite violent. BruceVain Rating on Violence- (5) Ishi all the way.

2. Gore- Even films that have a decent budget can have over the top gore, or scenes that just don't look real or even worse CGI gore. Martyr's displays a minimal measure of gore, but when they do, they really take it to the next level and make it work. There is a scene where a women that has been held captive for who knows how long has a metal blindfold on. Fence staples are used to keep it in place and when they remove them, they can bleed a lot!! It appears that the skin has grown around the blindfold and when it is finally removed, the slime like puss from infection really screams quality GORE! Another example of the effects is a scene where Lucie is fighting with her "Haunting Female Creature" and the creature uses a straight razor and cuts into Lucie's arm lengthwise, from behind the elbow to the wrist, reminded me of "Fatal Attraction". I watch a lot of horror and this scene actually gave me chills. BruceVain Rating on Gore- (5) High Tension Style.

3. Abuse- Apparently the M.O. of the film, trying to induce enough of it to promote transcendence in order to see the afterlife. In fact, the victims are not victims at all they are put through this process to make them into Martyr's( Greek for Witness). Hoping that they can see what lies after death. BruceVain Rating on Abuse-(5) Ishi all the way.

4. Flaying a Human Alive- To reach that final stage of transcendence this type of systematic abuse must be inflicted, and it is portrayed right before your eyes. This scene in particular is a testament to the acting and Direction, the pain in Anna's(Morjana Alaoui) eyes is characterized exponentially for the viewer to experience. BruceVain Rating on Flaying a Human Alive-(5) shit that's gotta hurt!

There were a few elements that I was not a fan of, for instance the film grain effect used in the opening and closing scenes. I was hoping that this would not continue for the remainder of the film....it didn't. If I failed to mention this film is in French and is subtitled, for the first 5 min, the subtitles are on the top of the screen rather than the normal bottom( I was peeved by this).

The Director Pascal Laugier deserves credit for the performances, how did he get those girls to cry non-stop? I felt the pacing was a little slow and a bit out of place. It seemed like a long 1:37 min because of it. Overall the film is a must see for an admirer of the genre and if you want shocking depiction of violence and abuse, Martyr's is for you.

If a horror/shock film were a Tachometer in a race car, Martyr's would be a blown engine.

Bruce Vain.