Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1379 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-05-25
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 95 minutes

Synopsis
French cinema continues its reign as the brutal roi of international horror with this startling import. MARTYRS begins in the 1970s, with a young kidnapping victim named Lucie running through the streets, barely clothed and covered in cuts. At the hospital, she bonds with fellow patient--and abuse victim--Anna, and they begin a bond that last for years. More than a decade later, the violence in their lives continues, but this time they may not be the victims.

Customer Reviews

Dark, Disturbing and Thoughtful- Martyrs.
To start off with, this is not a movie like Hostel or Saw. If you are looking for something like either of these movies, turn back now.

I may aswell get this out of the way first. Martyrs is not the goriest movie ever made, not even close. However, it may be one of the most brutal movies ever made. You will not see excessive blood splats, or heads being lopped off. You will, however, see some extreme brutality.

There is, thankfully, no awful depravity. No graphic rape, or sexual assualts or anything you may see in some god awful Rob Zombie film. There is some to an extent, but nothing off putting.

People have gone into detail about the plot on other reviews, so for this one, I shall stick to the actual movie.

This is not torture porn. This is true, powerful movie making. Unfortunatly because it happens to be French, and a violent horror movie, this is what this movie is being lumped into. This is terribly unfair, in fact for many horror films being released recently, but especcialy this one. It is perhaps one of the most thought provoking films I have seen in a VERY long time.

This is a very nihilistic, dark movie. For those rooting for a quick escape for either heriones will be sorely dissapointed. Martyrs pulls the rug out from under your feet every time you start to feel comfortable. You will be sitting and think 'Ah this is pegged for me now' and woosh, the film spirals and twists into something completely different.

The film has been critized for it's midway point twist. I found this to be very effective. It is a clear example of just how much the movie switches around on the viewer. Also, the point of the twist is not to carry on the story in a pitch perfect manner, but to further director Pascal Laugers message.

Ah yes, the message. Many seem to be missing it. But there is a message inside this movie. I will not spoil anything, but it all hinders on the final scene and line of the movie. The message is very powerful, and made all the stronger but the sheer, constant brutality the second half of the film delivers.

Overall, this is a very powerful and very dark piece of French cinema. I hope this will be the final note on which the French horror genre goes out on, as this is the best of them. Darker than Frontiers, more thought provoking than Inside, and more enthralling than Switchblade Romance. An excellent movie.

Masterpiece
Once again, I am compelled to write a review of a horror film. Until recently I thought the horror genre was dying, if not dead, despite clutching at occasional offerings such as `Mum and Dad' and `Eden Lake' both of which offered hope and a possible new direction in the horror genre. Whilst not necessarily a fan of torture porn, I think it is here to stay and at first, I thought `Martyrs' promised little more than misogynistic uberviolence.
But it's not. The plot leads you by a clammy hand through twists and turns, and whereas the mental illness angle was relatively easy to second guess, the second half of this genre jumping film was completely unpredictable. This is vicious, viscous, cerebral horror, horror to make you think, horror which really does leave mental scars. You might not want to, but you must make yourself watch this film to the end. Even now, I'm still struggling to come to terms with the basic philosophical thoughts which underpin this work and the absolute realism and attention to detail which informs the viewer throughout. Sitting through the second half, I wondered if this film was a step too far, considered that there ought to be tighter censorship laws governing these violent and sickening representations: the fact that the denouement made me, transiently, consider that the process I had witnessed justified the end result, worries me. This is a film about the unspeakable and the ultimate justification of the unspeakable and your own, eventual, compliance with the unspeakable.
I have deliberately not given any of the plot away, because on one level a good plot serves primarily to communicate ideas and move us towards them, and this film is a film of ideas, ideas so old they could be said to underpin the fabric of our society. If you are a horror aficionado, if you want to have your boundaries stretched, if you feel you have become complacent in your attitude towards a genre you thought was failing, then this is the film for you. This is a film that returns horror to its rightful place, on the top shelf, restricted. This is no fifteen certificate, this is horror grown up. Horror was never meant for social gatherings, shared bon hommie, popcorn in packed cinemas. DVD is the perfect format: we shouldn't want to share the darker sides of ourselves in public, lest we reveal ourselves to be actually enjoying something forbidden. This is certainly not a film for everyone, and I praise Pascal Laugier for that: uncompromisingly adults only - and so much the better for it, this isn't a film where any concessions have been made to taste or decency. This is European horror, deeper than society or sorority. This is streets ahead of the commercialised big budget American market where profit margins dilute content and result in `MTV Horror'. Horror isn't werewolves or vampires; horror is humanity, it's history, it's us. This is New Horror which takes us to the places we recognise in our neighbour, Josef Fritzl. An outstanding, marvellously sickening and deep contribution to my collection which leaves recent cause célèbres floundering in the shallows.

She Watch Channel Zero....
We've come a long way as viewers in the last few decades - Only 18 years ago tongues were wagging over a same-sex kiss in "LA Law", and don't get me started over Mary Whitehouse and her ilk. Since then, a New Generation have sought out increasingly more violent and sexualised fare (caused by unfettered Internet access no doubt) and are coming up empty nowadays. Were does a discerning exploitation director go to upset his audience? French director Pascal Laugier has the answer; Kaspar Hauser with his intestines hanging out! (Look him up folks).

Cast you mind back to the beginning of the 1970s; Lucie is found wandering down a country road near-catatonic, the police deduce that she had been held against her will in a dirty slaughterhouse for years, yet never molested. After being placed in an orphanage, she befriends Anna, where after years of pent-up aggression the pair saunter off for a dose of well-earned revenge. I won't give away what happens next, but suffice to say the film's scattershot delivery and extreme brutality can leave a lot of people grasping in vain for their sick buckets. It's cinematic Darfur, and the Janjaweed militia are bearing down with a threatened R18 rating.

Being French, the film may alienate those who prefer to get their Body Horror from a bad US remake of an earlier bad US film, which seems to be the overriding trend nowadays. Don't worry, for those the inevitable American version will be out in a few years. For those with better taste, you already have the definitive version right in front of you. And while you're at it, watch Alexandre Bustillo's "Inside" as well. France is where it's at nowadays, believe it.