Do you want to see ‘Martyrs’?

Add to Netflix

Martyrs (2008)

tomatometer

All Critics
Top Critics

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.

No Score Yet...

Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 1
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 1

A real polarising movie, this Gallic torture-porn is graphic, brutal, nasty and gruesome and not to everyone's taste.

audience

liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 9,166

My Rating

Added to your Facebook Timeline. — undo

Movie Info

The Brotherhood of the Wolf 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 (Myl�ne Jampano�) -- obviously the victim of inhuman abuse -- is hospitalized after somehow managing to escape her sadistic captors. Nearly

R, 1 hr. 37 min.

Drama, Horror, Art House & International

Directed By: Pascal Laugier

Written By: Pascal Laugier

In Theaters: May 1, 2008 Wide

On DVD: Mar 24, 2009

Bir Film

Cast

Morjana Alaoui
Anna
Myl�ne Jampano�
Lucie
Catherine B�gin
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
�?tienne, �tienne, ??ti...
Tony Robinow
Doctor

Critic Reviews for Martyrs

All Critics (27) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (13) | DVD (2)

Film should score OK with hardcore gore fans, but others will expect martyrdom for sticking it out until the end.

September 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment (1)

Jordan Mintzer

Variety

Top Critic

Brutally well-conceived... for about 40 minutes, and then Martyrs flips on its own bloody axis and falls apart, existentially.

April 13, 2011 Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews

| Comment

David N. Butterworth

rec.arts.movies.reviews

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.

March 13, 2011 Full Review Source: What Culture

| Comment (1)

Mike Edwards

What Culture Source: What Culture

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.

December 1, 2010 Full Review Source: Little White Lies

| Comment

Anton Bitel

Little White Lies

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.

July 31, 2009 Full Review Source: MovieMartyr.com

| Comment

Jeremy Heilman

MovieMartyr.com

ultimately a very off-putting one-trick pony

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com

| Comment

Keith Breese

Filmcritic.com

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.

April 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Dread Central

| Comment

Steve "Uncle Creepy" Barton

Dread Central

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.

April 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Dread Central

| Comment

Steve "Uncle Creepy" Barton

Dread Central

Martyrs marks new ground in the horror genre - just don't take that as a sign it's worth your time.

April 22, 2009 Full Review Source: What Would Toto Watch?

| Comment

Christian Toto

What Would Toto Watch?

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.

March 31, 2009 Full Review Source: Times [UK]

| Comments (4)

Peter Whittle

Times [UK]

A sadistic, religiose French horror movie.

March 31, 2009 Full Review Source: Observer [UK]

| Comment

Philip French

Observer [UK]

'Martyrs' is initially shocking and strong, but eventually falls apart once we are informed about what the hell is going on.

March 30, 2009 Full Review Source: ESplatter

| Comment

Lucius Gore

ESplatter

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.

March 28, 2009 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comments (3)

Anton Bitel

Film4

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.

March 28, 2009 Full Review Source: Sky Movies

| Comment

Rob Daniel

Sky Movies

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.

March 27, 2009 Comment

Pat Liu

Little White Lies

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.

March 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Total Film

| Comment

Jamie Graham

Total Film

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.

March 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

David Jenkins

Time Out

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.

March 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Times [UK]

| Comment

Wendy Ide

Times [UK]

You may well feel in need of a shower after sitting through Martyrs, a slick essay in Gallic torture porn.

March 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK]

| Comment

Xan Brooks

Guardian [UK]

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Martyrs

View All

One of the best pieces of unimaginable cinema I have ever seen. Those who would subject this film to the indignity of bearing the title "torture porn" clearly have little or no conception of how amazing the structural integrity of this film actually was. Intelligent, gruesome, outstandingly original and shockingly

September 22, 2011

Unknown Hobo

Super Reviewer

I'm sorry, I just didn't get this at all. It didn't really work on any level for me. Any hopes of the film being a Gallic feminist Oldboy vanish after quarter of an hour or so; taken as a horror movie, it's certainly disturbing but never particularly frightening; and it doesn't have anything profound to say, either

June 17, 2011

Stephen M

Super Reviewer

Martyrs Quotes

View All

1. Mademoiselle: Can you imagine what happens to us after death? Be doubtful. [shoots herself into the mouth]
– Submitted by Alexander S (3 months ago)