Review of Martyrs (2008) by Jonathan E — 27 Jul 2010

This movie is very, very diverse. It starts with a young girl being held captive an an abandoned industrial estate. She escapes her captors and ends up in a child help [mental] institution. Meanwhile, she is visited by a vicious entity that cuts her in the night! She makes a friend who, well.. then turns into a lover. Flash forward, release from the institution some 15 years later. With her new childhood friend she seeks vengeance on those that did her wrong. She tracks them down. This is the un-spoiler version. But safe to say it involves a suspicion where are the supernatural hauntings, is she mad vs, do the entities exist?

****SPOILERS***.

We have an arrival on the scene of a gang of unnamed cultists. In effect, the breed unstable females via torture-house horror but not on the same level as say 'hostel'. Unstable the females are bred to a moment of religious or almost extra terrestrial transcendence. What message can you have beyond the veil worth living for?

****SPOILER END***.

Safe to say there's various protagonists whose identities and real plan is not given away. This leads to a bit of a cheat ending to the movie. We understand up to a point, other than another group whose ideal is explained, but not who they are. Thing is this PLOT has already got too busy. Less is MORE!

We're given too much explanation and a scenario what is going to happen next, but it gives too much away. The move from thriller, to horror, to torture horror, to conspiracy is ingenious. I can see why the movie got mediocre reviews.

I would say that the movie is a very well imagined Asian horror [think Dark Water] meets a french thriller movie. It's not ended well mainly as saying less would have given it more mystery. The movement between movie genres, it's worth a watch if only for its imagination!