by Montana Firth on July 16, 2009

French, horror, Martyrs, Mystery, rentals, suspense

Martyrs is in French. This may seem a strange way to start an article but it is a fact that some people have a natural aversion to watching foreign films. Now that we have got that nasty business aside let’s get to the goodness. Martyrs may be one of the most disturbing yet intriguing horror movies I have ever set my beautiful brown eyes upon. It mixes horror and mystery in a way that I have not seen in a long time and is a must watch for any die hard horror fan. But a very strange must watch at that.

The movie is about to young women named Anna and Lucie. These two young women become friends at a youth home after Lucie has been held captive for an undisclosed amount of time. The torture that she is submitted too is shown only briefly, but is brutal nonetheless. In the youth home she is haunted by a ghostly figure that mutilates her, and makes her friend swear to never tell anyone about it. The movie jumps forward to a confusing quest of revenge as Lucie goes completely out of it. I’m talking scorched Earth shotgun work here folks. Things soon become very confusing as the line between reality and fantasy is blurred and the audience is unsure of whether or not Lucie is insane or legitimately visited by a ghostly figure.

I could go further to the plot but this mysterious segment of the movie contains several twists and turns integral to the plot. So let’s talk about the gore. This movie has some excellent gore effects and with the use of some clever cutaways completely disregards CGI. This is all good, this movie does take a very unpleasant turn. Which is to say that the last 15 minutes of this movie are almost completely unwatchable. Not as in poorly done or cheesy but just completely disturbing. I found myself cringing and coming very close to turning it off several times. But something about it made me keep it on, I had to see this movie through to the end to get some sort of payoff. There is payoff, but in accordance to the style of the rest of the movie.

When this movie finally faded out I found myself just sitting there awestruck. Not knowing what to say. If you find yourself in the mood for a movie that is unlike anything you have seen then definitely give this shot. The acting is fantastic and if you are up to reading some frantic French subtitles than all is good. This is one of those movies that I really enjoyed, but after watching Martyrs once I will probably never watch it again. It’s that intense.

Related articles you may enjoy:

Mg DVD Reviews: Push
Basically, you have me at Dakota Fanning. She was born to act. But then add in Chris Evans (I really liked him in Cellular, although that movie not so much) and Djimon Hounson (in Blood Diamond, one of the best…...

The Signal
For my second installment of Metroglow reviews I’ve decided to go a little further back in the movie rental arena. Horror movies are pretty hit and miss nowadays, not offering much more than senseless gore or weird Japanese girls that…...

Home Run Dad’s Review: Seven Pounds
Heavy Hitters (Movie Stars): Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson MPAA Rating: PG-13, 118mins Home Run Dad’s Overall Rating: Triple First, a word of advice: when possible, always go into a movie with no expectations. Too high expectation and the movie is…...