Movie Info
Movie Name: Martyrs
Studio: The Safran Company
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): October 9, 2015 (Sitges Film Festival)/January 22, 2016 (US)
MPAA Rating: R
Let’s take a trip to the country!
Lucie Jurin (Troian Bellisario) had a trouble childhood. She was rescued from a home where she was tortured, but those responsible were never caught. Now a young woman, Lucie believes she has found the people, and despite warnings from her only friend Anna (Bailey Noble), she has decided to do something about it. Raiding a farmhouse, Lucie has done the unthinkable…and Anna is forced to clean-up her mess…but could Lucie’s past be real?
Directed by Kevin Goetz and Michael Goetz, Martyrs is a horror psychological thriller. It is a remake of the 2008 French-Canadian horror film by Pascal Laugier. The movie wasn’t well received and criticized for being an almost shot-for-shot remake (at points) of the original.
The original Martyrs wasn’t considered that great by many, and Pascal began negotiating the rights for a remake almost immediately (which always worries me). I didn’t get to see the original film, but knowing that this film is essentially the same film, it doesn’t inspire to see the original that much. Due to the story, a ******spoiler alert****** is in effect for the review.
Wow….I’m feeling pretty martyred…
The movie despite some original content somehow seems predictable. The slaughter at the farmhouse is so early that you know there is going to be a twist…leading to two options, she’s wrong (which doesn’t give the movie much direction to go) or that she’s right (which is the path they chose and the most obvious). The whole cult of people trying to see the other side feels less like a twist and more like some weird blatant attempt at a twist. It also leads to some gross torture horror which I’m not that into.
The cast doesn’t really stand out. While Bailey Noble and Troian Bellisario are marketed as co-stars, Noble surfaces as the “star” of the movie as the friend who doesn’t quite believe her friend’s killer actions. It feels like the movie could have had some more fun casting the cultists or the family at the beginning by maybe casting against type with some real “family” character actors from TV or movies.
It’s just a fleshwound
The movie has the contrast of a typical home mixed with the gore and horror of the cult. It is something that seems a bit more familiar now. The “twist” ending tries to create the ultimate vision of what happens after you die (without showing anything) which is an impossible thing to capture as the movie states over and over again.
The original Martyrs might have been better, but I didn’t have access to it at the time I saw this film. If I ever get to see it, I’ll already be judging it which is too bad. I don’t know that it would be any better, but going into a movie with preconceived opinions due to a remake is always unfortunate. Martyrs just doesn’t seem very inspired, shocking, or scary…there’s better horror out there.
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