Martyrs (2008)
Average Rating: 5.7/10
Reviews Counted: 27
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 13
A real polarising movie, this Gallic torture-porn is graphic, brutal, nasty and gruesome and not to everyone's taste.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 2
A real polarising movie, this Gallic torture-porn is graphic, brutal, nasty and gruesome and not to everyone's taste.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 10,240
My Rating
Movie Info
Director Pascal Lauguier follows his 2004 thriller House of Voices with this relentlessly brutal tale of a girl who suffered unimaginable abuse as a young child, and the unspeakable horrors that unfold when she arrives at an isolated cabin in the woods fifteen years later. The story begins as the young, badly battered Lucie (Mylène Jampanoï) -- obviously the victim of inhuman abuse -- is hospitalized after somehow managing to escape her sadistic captors. Nearly catatonic after her life-altering
Cast
-
Morjana Alaoui
Anna -
Mylène Jampanoï
Lucie -
Catherine Bégin
Mademoiselle -
Robert Toupin
Father -
Patricia Tulasne
Mother -
Juliette Gosselin
Marie -
Xavier Dolan
Antoine -
Isabelle Chasse
Creature -
Emilie Miskdjian
Torture Victim -
Mike Chute
Executioner -
Gaelle Cohen
Henchwoman -
Anie Pascale
Female Executioner -
Jessie Pham
Lucie Age 10 -
Erika Scott
Anna Age 10 -
Louise Boisvert
Voice of Anna's Mother -
Jean-Marie Moncelet
Ã?tienne, Étienne, ??ti... -
Tony Robinow
Doctor
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All Critics (27) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (13) | DVD (2)
The stylishly mounted first half zips along at a rate of knots while the gruesome make-up work will keep your gag reflex in violent spasm.
Top CriticFilm should score OK with hardcore gore fans, but others will expect martyrdom for sticking it out until the end.
Brutally well-conceived... for about 40 minutes, and then Martyrs flips on its own bloody axis and falls apart, existentially.
Some call it torture porn, others might call it aggressive moralising, more still have say it's boring and pointless. In my view this level of dissent marks it as worthwhile.
it turns out to be concerned precisely with the nature and reception of extremity, posing uncomfortable questions about what it is that one really seeks in choosing to 'witness' scenes of horrific human abjection.
Perhaps more than any other horror film, Martyrs demonstrates the range of the genre's capabilities to find ways to excite, provoke, and disturb us.
ultimately a very off-putting one-trick pony
Martyrs is an absolute recommend, but only to those who are willing to accept the film on its own uncompromising terms. All others are advised to stay well clear away.
Even though for my money it ends up feeling all too familiar by the end credits, it still does what it does better than most.
Martyrs marks new ground in the horror genre - just don't take that as a sign it's worth your time.
The air of pretentiousness and the whiff of lesbian chic suggest that the bunch of nihilists who produced this garbage will claim something for it. All it really demonstrates is that there is something seriously rotten in the state of France.
A sadistic, religiose French horror movie.
'Martyrs' is initially shocking and strong, but eventually falls apart once we are informed about what the hell is going on.
Intense, disorienting, unsettling, upsetting, polarising - Martyrs is all these things but it is also intelligent, moving and strangely uplifting. If you want to be put through the wringer by a film, make it this one.
Martyrs is a five star example of what modern horror can do, or a one star mugging of all that is decent. Forgive us if we go with the former.
It will most definitely divide audiences, having already done so all over the world. But Laugier has contributed a brave, brutal and original horror film for all to witness.
Arthouse? Grindhouse? The Passion Of Joan Of Arc: Unrated Edition? Defying all boundaries, Martyrs relentlessly dishes the visceral pain and emerges as a work of not just ceaseless terror but also gravity and beauty.
Martyrs is an unforgettable (not necessarily a good thing) endurance test of a movie that provides a quasi-philosophical spin on the torture porn genre.
You may well feel in need of a shower after sitting through Martyrs, a slick essay in Gallic torture porn.
Audience Reviews for Martyrs
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Lucie: What do you have to do to stop being afraid?
- Anna: I think you have to let yourself go.
- Lucie: You think so?
- Anna: Let oneself go.
- Lucie: If I can't do it, will you be there for me?
- Anna: Yes.
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- Lucie: How could you do that to me? Why?!
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- Mademoiselle: Can you imagine what happens to us after death? Be doubtful. [shoots herself into the mouth]
Discussion Forum
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Latest News on Martyrs
October 29, 2008:
Pascal Laugier Circles Hellraiser RedoDimension's "re-imagining" of "Hellraiser" appears to be back on track, with "Martyrs" helmer Pascal...
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Martyrs is a film that features more unrestrained brutality and repugnant scens of torture than any low-budget horror released in a while, but along with all this comes a certain amount of intelligence. I think it's safe to say that a lot of the negative reactions this film has recieved are based on the suspicion that it's a completely screwed up horror film that could cause damage to people psychologically, and that it's aim is to push you to the limit and make you throw up internal organs or quite simply traumitise you so much it scars you for life. However although it has the power to do that. I found it to be anything but narratively-flimsy and immature, it's actually one of the best horror movies i've seen in a while. It philosophies religion, the afterlife, epiphany-esque visions, and of course the transcendence of pain itself. I think we've gotten so used to idiotic and empty movies like Hostel and Saw that even the art-house, much more intellectual and profound bloodbath's are viewed as the typical Grindhouse fare. Unlike said movies it has two absolutely fantastic lead performances by Morjana Alaoui and Mylène Jampanoï, beautiful cinematography, delicate and artful direction, and a sheer sense of anguish and terror that I think fans of horror cinema will really enjoy, and a reflective meaning. It has one of the most nasty final acts i've seen in a while and also a very creepy ending. If you love film, you'll adore it. If you like horror, you haven't seen anything until you've seen it. I humbly ask people who see this movie not to criticise it on the grounds of being messed up, judge something as infantile as Hostel on that. This film has a purpose, along with that comes physically manifested torture. I would even argue years from now even when this film is disowned by narrow-minded audiences that it's a movie about something but that something certainly isn't torture. I can't really recommend it as entertainment, but I suppose if you happen to come across the film you might see something brilliant if you can handle it.