Martyrs

2008 [FRENCH]

Action / Drama / Horror / Mystery

99
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 65% · 40 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 69% · 10K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.0/10 10 105524 105.5K

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Plot summary

A young woman’s quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tortured her as a child leads her and her best friend, also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.


Uploaded by: FREEMAN
January 29, 2016 at 10:27 PM

Director

Top cast

Xavier Dolan as Antoine
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
723.13 MB
1280*682
French 2.0
R
23.976 fps
1 hr 39 min
Seeds 21
1.5 GB
1920*1024
French 2.0
R
23.976 fps
1 hr 39 min
Seeds 72

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Coventry 10 / 10

Experience the Pain!

I often wonder how much further the horror genre can and will evolve in terms of sadism and the portrayal of ultra-explicit violence. Especially the youngest generation of French directors appear to be involved in some sort of sport competition where each one aspires to surpass the other when it comes to showing sheer brutality and stomach-churning sickness. "High Tension", released in 2003, was quite extreme already, but since then there came "Them", "Frontier(s)" and "Inside" and each separate film raised the bar every time. Now, after experiencing the nearly indescribable intensity level of "Martyrs", I sincerely hope that no other movie will ever go beyond the standards set in this film. "Martyrs" genuinely is an astonishing and jaw-dropping ordeal that is guaranteed to leave even the most hardened and trained horror buffs speechless. From what I gathered reading reviews and listening to opinions left and right, I already knew this wasn't going to be picnic, but the truth is that absolutely nothing can prepare you for what you are about to see in "Martyrs". It may sound a little fantastic, but the infamous and supposedly nauseating torture porn titles such as "Saw", "Hostel" and "Murder-Set-Pieces" look like sophomoric episodes of Sesame Street in comparison with the recent stream of French shock-features and in particular with "Martyrs".

Okay, I realize I've been going on and on about the shocking impact and extreme violence of "Martyrs", but still I haven't even mentioned the most remarkable and praiseworthy aspect about the entire film. The gore, barbarity and mayhem aren't at all gratuitous or exploitative but actually serve a purpose! There were other and far more mundane "extreme" horror movies simply showcase a long series of torture sequences, "Martyrs" practically causes you to experience the pain AND simultaneously raises a handful of socially engaging debates. For once, the title of a horror movie can be taken 100% literally… By watching "Martyrs", you expose yourself to martyrdom. You voluntarily watch the film and you're free to look away or step out of the theater at any given moment, but most likely you won't because subconsciously you are in readiness to endure a whole lot of visual suffering in order to know how the movie will end. Yes, it all does sound very philosophical and pseudo-intellectual (especially for a horror movie), but honestly not a single word is exaggerated. This movie honestly is the genre landmark of a new generation…

The synopsis on the back of the DVD appears to give away the content of the entire film, but in fact it only covers the first ten minutes. The short summary describes how a 12-year-old girl narrowly escapes from an abandoned factory site where she was held captive and subjected to extreme torture. She ends up in a psychiatric clinic and befriends another girl who slowly helps her processing the trauma. 15 years later, the girl appears on the doorstep of a seemingly happy family of four with a shotgun in her hands and raging fury in her eyes. Lucie is convinced she found her tormentors. Apart perhaps from the domestic household element, this sounds like the plot of nearly every "revengesploitation" movie ever made. But these are only the opening minutes… What follows next is a literally perplexing and excruciating visual nightmare that is unpredictable and even unimaginable. At first you'll wonder where writer/director Pascal Laugier can possibly be heading for with his screenplay, and then you'll probably wish you never asked. It would be a shame to reveal too much about the plot, so let me just re-establish that you will be unprepared and stupefied. Do you dare?

Reviewed by MrGKB 5 / 10

The real martyrs would appear to be the audience...

...and what we're ultimately allowed to witness is, at its core, some pretty empty-headed, although visceral, existentially sadistic nonsense. Nonetheless, I can't deny that "Martyrs" packs a punch (several of them, in fact, to the face and gut, repeatedly, to its protagonist, after fooling us about who the real protagonist is). It's ultra-violence that Alex and his droogies would lap up like synthemesc milk-plus; presumably the audience is meant to as well. Aha, but auteur Pascal "The Tall Man" Laugier isn't through with us yet! After rubbing our collective noses in viscous pools of vengeance and hallucinatory blood guilt, he dials up the sadism a few more notches with a tiresome third act that trucks in absurdist fantasies of an elite cabal searching for proof of an afterlife through the inducement of a tortured martyr's vision of what can only be feebly represented by a coruscating white light.

What tripe.

Neither the acting chops of the two leads, which are considerable, nor the overall production values, including some very convincing Grand Guignol splatter and grue, can conceal the vacuous conceit of the film's plot nor the soul-less nihilism of its theme. "Martyrs" leaves its audience numbed by its brutality, but with precious little else, and ultimately comes off as mere torture-porn with a glib pretension of meaning. I won't say it's not worth watching, but be prepared to be unsatisfied. Mayhaps that was Laugier's intent; if so, his intentions were shallow and venal.

Reviewed by thekarmicnomad 2 / 10

Nightmare inducing, wish I could un-watch it.

I write my reviews based on two factors, how much I enjoyed watching the movie and how much I enjoy thinking back about it. This movie I don't want to think back to.

This was well produced, well acted and the story is engaging.

But the content is just too horrific. I sat though Saw and Hostel they were OK. This I found really disturbing. I fast forwarded at one point and was privy to watching some poor devil receive a year long kick-in condensed into 6 minutes. As I am not a sado masachist I found these protracted scenes not only disturbing but dull.

I like horror, I like to be scared and when the lights come up think, 'wow, glad that wasn't me getting chopped up'. I feel like I am carrying this around with me.

If you like really gruesome stuff (note the actual gore isn't that bad) then go for it! You'll love this. But if you want to keep a handle on your humanity then stay blissfully unaware of this movie.

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