Martyrs(2008).Fifteen years after a horrifying experience of abduction and prolonged torture, Lucie embarks on a bloody quest for revenge against her oppressors. Along with her childhood friend, Anna, who also suffered abuse, she quickly descends, without hope, into madness and her own delusions. Anna, left on her own begins to re-experience what Lucie did when she was only twelve years old. Written bykwedgwood@hotmail.com... Synopsis Martyrs(2008)
Movie Title: Martyrs(2008)
Run Time: 99 min
Rating: 6.9 / 10
Genres: Horror
Release Date: 3 September 2008 (France)
Director: Pascal Laugier
Writer: Pascal Laugier... and other credits
Actor: Morjana Alaoui,Mylène Jampanoï,Catherine Bégin
I too saw this at Frightfest with an audience full of horror fans. Unlike all the other films of the festival, there were no cheers when characters were bloodily dispatched. Equally there was no unintentionally funny dialogue to snigger at (Jack Bauer vs The Exorcist, anyone?).
What Martyrs did have was a suggestion of the emotional horrors (rather than simply the physical) endured by someone who has been tortured. That was the first half of the film. The second half shifted plot-wise and also provided us with a motivation (however twisted) for the abuseHostel.
- far more creepy than simply entertainment for the sick, as with
Despite it's bleakness I came out feeling uplifted, and evidently this was the director's intention. It could have been purely because this was the only film over the course of the weekend that had any intellectual aspirations, but it did succeed in eliciting strong reactions from the hardened horror audience, both positive and negative.
The nearest I can compare this too is Irreversible, but unlike Gasper Noé's film, I do feel that I can stomach another viewing of Martyrs, and the sooner the better.
