I've noticed this movie being mentioned in the 'Upcoming French Horror' thread, but I feel it deserves one for itself.
Picked this up for a bargain at the local dvd-store, expecting a movie just a bit more brutal and provoking compared to what most horrormovies bring lately, but how tough can it really get?
I should have remembered how I thought the same about Irreversible.
This is a movie with a harsh beginning, and unfolds to be more and more disturbing along the way, even to the point where I almost turned it off, but just hanging on with a bruised conscience to see the end, because of weary but tickled curiosity.
Martyrs is a movie with massive impact, it's like walking away from a crash, you could be feeling impressed, damaged or sickened by it, or all at the same time.
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Last edited by Pandemoniac on Jun 3rd, 2009 at 09:33 PM
It's definitely a film that is strong on your emotions, I remember feeling so incredibly sad and angry when Lucie [SPOILER - highlight to read]: killed herself , and this scene stayed with me for days after. I've talked more about it in a number of topics, lately one of the DVD topics, someone excusing it of extreme misogyny, I didn't get that feeling in the film at all.
It's a beautifully shot film and an incredibly well made Horror film with some stunning acting.
A critic came up with a new 'sub genre' name, though he used it in a negative way, that I think is a fantastic name for these kinds of films, New French Extremism/Extremity. Not just Horror, but other films out of France like A Ma Souer!, and so on. I like it, even though the director of Martyrs apparently doesn't lol.
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Last edited by MildPossession on Jun 3rd, 2009 at 10:22 PM
Wasted an hour and a half of my life watching this crap that I'll never get back and if I ever see the director on the street I'll break his nose.
Its disturbing on all the wrong levels. It went a bit too far. There is no way it would, could, or should ever happen.
This is from another forum I post on that I posted - "I'll be honest and say that (like everybody probably) I'm s**t scared of death and didn't really need to see a movie like this."
Its all about mankind and not knowing what comes after death. I think about death pretty much everyday (like my parents passing away one day) and how I'm going to feel when the time comes. I hate not knowing if there is a heaven or not.
I did like 2 things though - the score fit the tone of the film and that tortured woman with that metal thing on her face scared the shit out of me.
Entertaining film. My only main problem was the extensiveness of the torture scenes. Quality over quantity. It's better at times if the audience see's less, and assumes the worse for the individual being tortured. Adds a stronger effect.
Anyway, I had no prior knowledge to what the film was going to be about.
as deathbycorn said, there is no way it would, could or should ever happen, but that's what I liked about the film.
Something so unnatural in the sense of torturing for a greater purpose, yet in such a realistic manner.
The ending was thought provoking, and made you really think about [SPOILER - highlight to read]: what Anna said at the end to Mademoiselle.
So technically, the ending is based on what you perceived.
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Saw this about a month ago and I thought it was quite impressive. The way it merged aspects of ghost/gore subgenres was interesting and the realization was very unique and interesting. It's rare to see a horror film these days that actually tries to have a point or to make you think, and this did, and that's worth commending.
Very disturbing and well made.
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That's fair enough, but that's your problem(and not the films) then if you think about death every day when it comes to your viewing of this film, but that doesn't mean it's the same for everyone else or wrong to watch as you put it in another topic.
Even if the film showed their interpretation of life after death, it's a piece of fiction, because let's face it, no one really knows what happens once someone has died...
You talk about a film in this way and excuse people of being wrong or horrible for liking this film, yet come out with stuff like this? if a joke, it doesn't come out that way on the screen.
I do as well but then it is a film, and that's the beauty of film, doesn't have to be 100% real life. Doesn't take anything away from the film anyway, and shouldn't be a reason for hating it.
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No, it wasn't a joke. I think the bloke is a sick-minded weirdo who needs serious help if he wants to make movies like that.
What I hate about the film is what the girl went through. I know it was apart of the plot but I think its wrong. Bashing a girl for hours on end is wrong. And I can't see how people can say they like movies like that.
Why couldn't it of been a man who went through the torture?
Women are known for having more dense brains than men, and women have corpus collosum's which transfer information quicker from the left to the right hemisphere of the brain. Therefore, women have more psychological capabilities than men.
Women fitting the position of a martyr makes more sense for the film.
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Dr Leg Kick answered one thing perfectly, if I remember right, that horrible woman in the film went through that subject matter briefly. Not in such detail as Dr Leg Kick did.
I still really find it odd you questioning how people can like such a film, but you can sit fine through a film and praise it when it's just as disturbing, for me anyway, where a woman cuts out a baby with scissors... and all the rest of the violence in the French film Inside.
If it was a man in the lead of Martyrs, it would still be wrong to bash them hours on end... male or female, still wrong, so I don't see why you are going in that direction.
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Some news on the Hellraiser remake, Pascal Laugier, the director of Martyrs, is no longer directing the remake. I thought if they must remake this classic Horror then he would have been perfect.
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Inside is like a study in visceral violence and questions when or if the viewer will look away. I don't think Inside is a disturbing because like you said, it is woman vs woman. If it was a man trying to steal Sarah's baby it would be a completely different story. And Inside like has been said before is based on true events, its an actual scary movie. Why I watch horror movies; to be scared. And I'm sorry but Martyrs wasn't scary. The girl with the metal thing on her face was though.
Yes it would be wrong but it wouldn't border on misogyny.
As I said in another topic, it's LOOSELY based on true events.
The woman on woman is one reason it's more disturbing for me, I find it quite disturbing that a woman could do that sort of thing to another woman. It's rare compared to man on woman violence.
I find there are stronger emotions too when watching it, compared to watching a man do the same thing, I believe it takes a lot more for a woman to attack another woman in such a way and a sadness.
As for Frazer Lee, I've never seen his short films, so couldn't comment.
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Last edited by MildPossession on Jun 5th, 2009 at 11:07 PM
I've seen worse than a man beating a woman, I saw a movie where a teenage girl gotten beaten and had worse done to her. Then she died cause she got her lady area blow torched. Was based loosely on something real that happened. After seeing that movie I wasn't impressed by what I'd seen cause I thought it was so wrong, but then so are alot of movies based on real life situations
Yuck. I remember at school in assembly watching our History teacher give a presentation on female genital mutilation. Close to things you mentioned but obviously not in detail.
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Last edited by MildPossession on Jun 6th, 2009 at 03:25 PM
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