A young girl runs crying from an abandoned slaughterhouse, having been the recipient of a lengthy series of beatings and thrashings by unknown captors with no specific motives. The child is known as Lucie, and following her escape, she is placed in an orphanage alongside other victims of abuse. Within a short period of time, Lucie is quickly befriended by Anna, another female with whom she eventually falls in love with. Fifteen years pass, and though the women have long since departed from their childhood grounds, Lucie is still tormented by the visions of a disfigured, beaten down creature that she believes will one day kill her. Still, the two band together, tracking down and hoping to exact vengeance on those who harmed Lucie during her youth. What follows, however, is a journey into madness unlike any that a single, breathing human being has ever witnessed.
Yet again, I must confess that I am cheating with an entry on this year's listing for Unseen Terror. Around the time that I first signed up for Netflix's delivery service, I gave into the hype and added France's highly-acclaimed horror picture Martyrs, which most credit as being the arc de triomphe for what critics have dubbed the "New French Extremity." Though a lot of non-horror publications were split down the middle in terms of what they thought of the finished product, it garnered much acclaim from magazines and websites across the world that specialized in covering all things terrifying.
Me? Well, I thought it stank.
Before you jump down my throat, I must reminder you: this was in 2008, and there is a very good possibility that I may have been watching Martyrs while I was in a rather lousy mood. True, there is no proper temperament necessary for something that will be likely tagged as an art picture meets a graphic, hard-to-digest scary movie, but it may explain for why I was willing to go back and revisit something that is surprisingly more challenging to find now than it was during the height of its popularity. Hell, I've even stated that I'll be glad to do this again one day with assorted pictures that were deemed classics by the community, but negatively reviewed by this beardo weirdo, including The Town That Dreaded Sundown and The Lost Boys. And no, I will not be reviewing the sequels to the latter. Even I have my limits folks.
Since I do feel like cutting to the chase once in a while, it seems preposterous that I was dismissive of Martyrs after my first glance all of those years ago, because the movie is so god damn intense that I feel as if those who are looking for originality in this often-maligned genre should have to look no further. For every opportunity that one thinks the flick will sink into a pit of cliches, it twists it into a different form and created multiple moments of legitimate discomfort for even a relatively hard-nosed person like myself. Director Pascal Laugier seems to understand that since the inception of these pictures, their first intent was to frighten the viewer, but still leave you fascinated by the experience that you just went through. It came as no surprise that the Frenchman was actually signed on to head a remake of Clive Barker's Hellraiser, though he was purportedly taken off of the project for essentially trying to make it into, ironically enough, a Hellraiser movie. No matter what your opinion of the man or his projects are, I believe that having to live with the facts that the final theatrical release came from an Alan Smithee film and that the last two entries to bear that franchise's name revolve a computer game and Pinhead not being portrayed by Doug Bradley are crimes of the worst kind.
Now, the notion that Martyrs will revel in the excess or misery is difficult to argue, but without spoiling too much, it does intend to serve as a greater purpose to individuals that are introduced slightly before the first sixty minutes have passed. This gaggle of people also (possibly intentionally) cause the flick to remove most of its spoken dialogue for a large chunk of its final act. While some could complain about losing interest by being bombarded with nothing but grunts and other horrific sounds, I felt as if it just kept you guessing about what was to ultimately come towards the end. Something that I forgot about being so underrated was Martyrs' makeup. The two gentlemen in charge produced some top notch material, with each of our heroines (if you can even dub them as such) wearing the scars of a torturous past that is far from easy to forgive and forget. Morjana Alaoui's Anna does strike you as a somewhat innocent, but deeply flawed human being that is undeterred in her decisions to do what she does, no matter who it is for or who it is to. Lucie, played by the striking Mylene Jampanoi, just has that distinctive face and aura that is very difficult to replicate in any modern day horror picture. It is a crying shame that she doesn't seem to have any interest in taking any roles in American or Hollywood cinema, because I think that there exists a strong possibility of her breaking out in the same way that Marion Cotillard (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises) did. Mind you, the latter most likely never had to beat another woman to death for the sake of revenge, and if she did, then I've been clearly misinformed. Of course, the scenes of graphic violence and visuals are what will most likely draw cinephiles to Martyrs, but if you're expecting that sort of "campy" treatment that you'd get from Dead Alive or Return Of The Living Dead, then you are in for a very, VERY rude awakening. I'd liken some of these to segments to the drug use from Darren Aronofsky's Requiem For A Dream, since there is a chance you'll utter the words "well, I don't think I want to look at that again."
When it comes to particular pictures of yesteryear, I'm willing to admit when I'm wrong. Though I still do think that it is a tiny bit overrated, Martyrs is one of the pieces of cinematic terror that is sorely needed in this day and age (even if it is seven years old by the time of this review). There is a good chance that you may only be able to stomach one viewing of the film, and I can't deny that its pure sadism and unsettling third act will put off many a viewer. What can not be refuted is that whether you enjoy it or loathe it, Martyrs will stick with you long after the credits have finished, and sometimes, that could indeed be the sign of a truly unique piece of art. As described above, should you get lucky and stumble across a copy at an independent video or record store, Martyrs is sadly difficult to obtain for the average shopper. You can, however, stream it for $2.99 on Amazon Prime and purchase a Region 2 Blu-Ray for a decently cheap amount of money. There is also a remake from Blumhouse Productions that is fully wrapped up and ready for a theatrical release sometime in the near future. Personally, I'm perplexed as to not why, but how they would choose to reinvent this for American audiences, but perhaps when it drops, I'll be there to judge it for myself.
Tomorrow, we travel North to pay the Britains (who are the Britains?) a visit, but could potentially get lost in a time loop on the way there.
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