It's not every day that you counter an original horror movie, often they are a variation on an old theme (vampires, werewolves, zombies) and almost as common now are remakes (The Uninvited, Friday the 13th, My Bloody Valentine etc) so when something a bit different comes along it always deserves our attention.

That said, Martyrs is a strange beast that is unlikely to appeal to traditional horror fans. Its plot begins as a kind of revenge thriller. Young Lucie escapes from a warehouse in which she has been imprisoned and tortured. Reared in a special home she develops a strong bond with another girl of a similar age, Anna, who seems to be the only one capable of understanding her torment. When the pair get older, Lucie sets out for revenge on those who kept her captive. But once it seems she has done so, everything changes and we are thrown into a dark world that goes beyond the simple shocks and mindless gore of many a horror into a world that is unglamorous in its evil and pain.

The reason for this is that writer/director Pascal Laugier didn't write it because he loves the genre, or because he simply wanted to scare people. He wrote it to express a very dark period in his life and this film explores that in a very uncomfortable way. And that's not just for us folks in the audience, Morjana Alaoui who plays Anna was apparently made to spend around six days of shooting in a tearful state of distress.

As an audience experience, there is something visceral about this movie. Morjana's distress is palpable in Anna frenzied agitation, and the effects liberally applied to the torture scenes are brutally affective. More importantly, the repetitive violence of the latter part of the plot is as unrelentingly aggressive and uncomfortable as it needs to be.

It would not surprise me, however, if accusations of male control fantasy surfaced. Whilst not unusual in the genre, in this instance it would be more likely to happen given the visceral brutality that makes this so much more serious than the more flippant films churned out with such frequency. Whether or not such criticisms or complaints can be upheld, the very fact that a horror challenges people's assumptions and prickles their consciences means it has achieved far more than most recent efforts.

So to summarise, controversial, shocking, unusual and very very dark are all fair labels to apply to Martyrs. Whilst none of them are intrinsically positive, they certainly mark this as a stand out film in a sea of mediocrity and therefore make it worthy of any serious film fan's attention, and also worthy of the attention of horror fans hungry for something original. You might not like it, but you probably won't forget it.

Starring: Morjana Alaoui, Mylne Jampano•, Catherine BŽgin, Isabelle Chasse
Directed by: Pascal Laugier
Rating: UK 18
Release date: Out now

Rating: ****

Review by Michael Edwards

 

You like? Read our interview with writer/director Pascal Laugier!