Review of Martyrs (2008) by Anthony M — 13 Mar 2010

Martyrs is a grim journey of pain and one you won't want to take very often. The first half an hour of the film, I dislike. While the gore is fantastic, it loses some merit due to a slightly 'out there' plot but the film just keeps getting better and better.

The film centres around 2 women, Lucie and Anna, both friends from an orphange. Lucie was tortured as a child as part of a sadistic experiment but she reluctantly escapes and is haunted for the rest of her life by the vision of a woman. Her persuit for mental freedom takes her on a hunt for her torturers and after Lucie thinks she is free, she rings Anna to help with her mess. This is where the film starts to come into its own as a brutal and distrubing masterpiece of forgein cinema.

Amazing performance by Morjana Alaoui, who plays Anna...she is definitely one to watch out for in the future. Her character endures so much in this film, that I find it hard to comprehend.

Pascal Laugier is definitely one sick yet creative individual, his direction is spot on but I am scared to know what goes through his mind when he written this film. I'll definitely be checking out his earlier debut film 'Saint Ange' but any release after Martyrs.

This film isn't going to be for everyone, but exactly like horror films are meant to scare you, comedy films are meant to make you happy...films like these are designed shock and unsettle you and Martyrs succeeds.

Great acting, great story and extremely brutal. A masterpiece of shock cinema, well not just shock cinema, cinema in general.