Thomas Bess’ review of:

Martyrs is a movie I seem to have been following forever, or at least since late last year when I caught another French horror flick by the name of Inside and started paying much closer attention to the stuff coming from that side of the Atlantic. Without going too far off the rails, it (Inside) is the story of a pregnant woman alone on Christmas Eve who’s menaced by a murderous, home invading vixen with a very large, very sharp set of shears. It is, without a doubt one of the most beautifully shot, savagely violent slasher films I have ever seen. At the time I didn’t think there’d be another film to rival it for at least a decade, so when Martyrs was labeled by some as surpassing Inside in almost every respect, I knew it had to go on the ‘to watch’ list. So does it live up to the buzz? Well… yes and no. Allow me to explain…

Before we go any further, please know that I can’t tell you any more about the plot than this: It opens in the 70’s with a terrified, brutalized young girl named Lucie (Jampanoi) escaping from tormentors who have done all sorts of terrible things to her. In foster care she befriends Anna (Alaoui) who at least starts to help her overcome the myriad traumas she endured as a captive (including some wickedly disturbing hallucinations). Flash forward fifteen years and it turns into a revenge story the likes of which I’d wager you’ve never seen before. Boiled down to it’s purest form, Martyrs is a story about child abuse, torture and the cyclical nature of violence. I apologize if it sounds like I’m being vague, but really, the less you know going into this one, the better.

Of course now that I’ve said that I’m left with the unenviable task of trying to persuade or dissuade without giving away any salient plot points. (Takes deep breath) Ok, here goes nothing…

There’s a home invasion scene just after the title card that’s as violent or shocking as anything out there today. We’re talking a swiftness and ferocity that makes similar flicks (The Strangers, The Last House On The Left and Funny Games) seem downright tame in comparison. The phrase ‘charnel house’ is thrown around a lot in horror but this is the first time it’s actually come to my mind when watching a film. How the aftermath of this slaughter, not to mention the first hints of a larger, darker mystery is handled is about as close to flawless as you can get without someone calling you out as a shill. When Martyrs hit the hour mark I honestly had no idea where it was going and thusly couldn’t wait to see what Laugier had planned.

Then it happened. A movie that had me off balance and freaked out from the first frame takes an unexpected turn into very familiar territory. For twenty endless minutes, we’re treated to ‘girl tied to a chair’ as she suffers beatings and other abuses at the hands of her faceless captors. I’ve read it argued that taking the viewer along through every step of this demoralizing, dehumanizing process gets us closer to the heroine but after about the third vignette where she’s punched in the face, I stopped being worried for her and started drifting away. It wasn’t boredom exactly, but one of the key ingredients that makes a horror film engaging (for me at least) is the presence of hope. And for the last thirty minutes, Martyrs is as hopeless a film as ever there’s been. Don’t care how nice it looks, how eloquently characters rail about destiny or a higher purpose, if there’s not even a glimmer of a way out, my “Gives-A-Shit” meter dwindles to nothing. It almost gets back on track in the last five minutes or so but the ultimate reason for the destruction of a young woman (and apparently dozens, maybe hundreds before her) is so eye-rollingly dumb that it makes you wanna punch a wall or anything else that you might have delayed punching prior to sitting down to watch this movie.

Do not let me denigrate it to an extreme however — as mentioned above, the first two thirds of Martyrs stands head and shoulders above any recent theatrical release. Also, I freely admit to double-checking my doors and windows on account of a very brief, bloodless scene at the end of the prologue. Any flick that can get that sort of reaction is worth checking out, if only to be able to offer opinions when your fellow geeks inevitably bring it up in the weeks to come. And who knows, you may end up really digging the third act and reveal contained within, especially if you’re the sort that despises a ‘Hollywood Ending.’ But for those of you who like to finish a movie feeling satisfied as opposed to just disquieted, you should probably seek nourishment elsewhere.

Until next time, always remember the calls are coming from inside the house.

Director: Psacal Laugier

Starring: Morjana Alaoui, Mylene Jampanoi

Running time: 97 Sacrebleu inducing minutes

Martyrs trailer:

Tom Bess has sideburns that are so big they might be considered a beard shaving accident from afar. He blames his current mental state on Stephen King, Mike Nelson, Seth McFarlane and Vince McMahon but bears them no ill will. He passes his time writing movie reviews, but will flee the interwebs forever as soon as Allison Mack starts returning his calls.