[Martyrs]
Plot:Tells the story of a woman named Anna who was once a missing little girl but was found wandering a year later on a country road, virtually catatonic after suffering some sort of physical abuse. She has grown into a comely young woman, but has serious issues. Soon....she finds herself in an unusual house in the middle of the forest, there to exorcise her demons in quite violent and visceral fashion.

Cast: Mylène Jampanoï, Morjana El Alaoui.

My Thoughts:Strange but not quite there.

Review:A lot has been made about Pascal Laugier's French horror film "Martyrs". Much like "Inside" was hyped up, and I felt it didn't really make the grade. Just like "High Tension", another French film, was hyped up, and I felt it sort of lived up to the hype, but then was ruined by that damn ending...."Martyrs" succeeds in being something new, and not borrowed. But while it starts out on fire, it quickly fizzles little by little. The movie follows two girls who both suffered traumatic events at the hands of the same people.

One of the girls resembles the walking dead now though, and the other, who has a sister, shows up at the house of the perpetrators to exact revenge and exorcise her demons. Unfortunately, it doesn't work, and the girl who Anna was under the impression she was helping, then attacks her. Before this, she manages to inform her sister of where she is. And so her sister shows up, and cares for Anna until they can figure a way to explain or escape what's just been done. But soon, it's revealed that there's a lot more connected to the murder victims than at first thought.

These people have abused numerous children, and the reasons why are pretty disturbing and shocking. As Anna and her sister will soon find out. First off, the relationship between Anna and her sister is slightly reminiscent of the relationship between Ginger and Brigette in the "Ginger Snaps" films. Only difference being these two are French, and they are alot more disfunctional due to more "rooted in reality" issues having affected them both in negative ways. "Martyrs" is a very visually stunning film, and also very visually gloomy as well.

The movie, from the start, has a feel and overtones of hopelessness, doom and gloom, and just a very unhappy and depressing under-current. This fits right in with the films content, and overall storyline. As well as it's characters who rarely smile, and are instead angry, evil, sad, or broken. It really touches upon how abuse can affect people in horrific ways, and how there are so many kooks and sickos in normal society. Who hide their depraved and sick behavior within the window dressing of a family, a nice house, and a typical suburban life.

Even in a place like France, what things seem like on the surface, are usually what they're taken for at face value. But the problem this movie runs up against is this has been done before with American horror for years. Crazies who terrorize, sodimize, and abuse innocent people. Only in American movies, it's rarely a white suburban family. And instead, usually psycho rural types, who's grimey, grungy, dirty lvies match their grimey, grungy, and dirty persona's, and looks.

In the case of "Martyrs", the villains are clean cut and seem clean overall. But they're not. And while revenge is taken upon them by one half of the two sisters, their journey into this abuse is just beginning. What happens down the middle of the film is pretty twisted and hard to watch. As the movie is like a three part situation. Whcih goes from sort of bad, to very bad, to worse, to the ultimate in a bad situation. There is no light in this film, unless you decide to take the ending as a source of something positive. Although it leaves alot of questions about the victimizers and their motives and ideology.

The film is also a blueprint in how ideology and certain religions can galvanize and gather together like-minded people who can be a serious threat to innocent people. The film doesn't sport much blood or gore beyond the open 20 minutes, but it does have a very blatant message which is a plus in some ways. But the film fails on the level of being this new, fresh, thing that it was hyped as. Sure, it presents a new way of doing horror, and a new way of looking at it, but it also rehashes alot of things, and also is just another film in what I have coined the "abusive horror" subgenre.

A subgenre of horror where the source of the films conflict comes from people being abused or abusing others, or even abusing themselves. "May" might've fit into that category, as well as some parts of "One Missed Call" (remake). "Martyrs" is one thing though, it certainly is disturbing. On more than one level, and the film concludes on a disturbing note as well.

For both the villains and the protagonists. "Martyrs" isn't all it was cracked up to be, but it gets crazy enough to atleast be an interesting and disturbing viewing experience.

Positives:Disturbing and dark story. Decent performances by the two young female leads.

Negatives:The whole "good people suffer abuse at the hands of crazy people" angle has been done a lot in american horror. It seemed a bit stale here, despite being approached in a reworked fashion.

Overall:Two and a half out of four stars.





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