Martyrs (2008) DVD review

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Fairweather Pure
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Martyrs (2008) DVD review

Post by Fairweather Pure »

Fuck me. Martyrs... Where to begin?

This is a highly controversial film even amoung self proclaimed horror aficionados. I guess horror is the best category for the movie, but I'm uneasy with that classification because it's not really that scary. It's psychological horror much like Silence of the Lambs or Saw. It's basically "torture porn", which is my absolute least favorite sub genre. I bought this move strictly due to the controversy surrounding it and because I've heard so much about the new wave of frech horror that I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Fuck me. Martyrs...

It's difficult even to give a basic plot summary without making it sound like anyone that would willingly watch this is some kind of sicko, but I'll try.

The movie begins with a young girl being found walking down the street who has somehow escaped from being kidnapped and tortured. She is put in an orphanage where she becomes best friends with a fellow resident. Flash forward 15 years later when she is released, and she proceeds to extract bloody fucking vengence on the people that did this to her. Or did they? She's kind of nuts, ya know? She calls her friend up to help her hide the evidence, when a mysterious 3rd party enters the picture and from there on things get really fucking brutal.

I read several reviews that talked about a 25 minute torture scene, so I was somewhat prepared for what I was going to see. I don't think there is a single line if dialogue spoken the entire time. This is the source of most people's disdain for the movie. This is where many people have a really hard time finishing the movie.

Up until this point, the movie was indeed living up to every brutal description I had read about. Fucking insane actually. Now, as the movie entered the big torture portion, I was prepared for the worst. Let me tell you this: IT'S NOT THAT BAD. She gets beaten to a fucking pulp for 25 minutes. That's it. No one is poking her eyes out, cutting her fingers off, or shit like that. Granted, it is still hard to watch. I mean, fuck, you really feel every punch this girl takes. However, at least it wasn't graphic closeups of sick shit. Actually, I thought the beatings in "Wanted" were much more severe and graphic (although those didn't go on for 25 minutes uninterrupted). Furthermore, as the woman was "broken" I was reminded of Evy's decline in V for Vendetta.

So far, I'm sure many people are thinking "why would you watch a movie like that"? (I know my wife did!) The answer lies in the ending. There is a sick and twisted reasoning for all of the aforementioned torture and abuse. The question is, does it justify what you just witnessed? That is where people are torn. To some, it was not satisfying at all. They view it as an excuse to show all the torture. I happen to agree with the other side of the argument based mainly on what I was feeling when the big reveal hit me as I was watching. I felt a strange sense of comfort at one point, which oddly reflects what I believe the main character was feeling. It was kind of surreal. I don't ever remember feeling this way in any movie I had ever seen before, much less a horror movie from my least favorite sub genre. It's almost as if the violence actually wears down and
desensitizes the viewer. When it was all over, my abdominal muscles were aching because I had been unconsciously flexing them throughout the entire last 30 minutes of the movie.

There is a second ending that leaves more questions than answers that frustrated me a bit, but overall I was surprised by what the movie brought to the table. Pleasantly suprised? Uhhh, not really. I kind of have the same view of this as I do of "Schindler's List". I'm glad I saw it, but I won't be revisiting it anytime soon. Both were too much of an ordeal to sit through and left me emotionally drained.

I give this a 9/10 despite the fact that I know most people will never see this movie, and even if they do they probably won't like it as much as I did.
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Re: Martyrs (2008) DVD review

Post by Tyek »

I saw it, so did the wife. We questioned why we did after. The movie is not the worst I have seen and it stuck with both of us for several days, but it was not great by any stretch. The first part is interesting, but it devolves as the movie goes on and it seemed pointless at the end.
When I was younger, I used to think that the world was doing it to me and that the world owes me some thing…When you're a teeny bopper, that's what you think. I'm 40 now, I don't think that anymore, because I found out it doesn't f--king work. One has to go through that. For the people who even bother to go through that, most assholes just accept what it is anyway and get on with it." - John Lennon
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