This is the best horror film I've seen since "Inside". Coincidentally, they're both French which proves my now long-standing point that the French have handily surpassed Hollywood and are even eclipsing Asia in making effective and shocking horror films. Frontiers, Them, Calvaire, Sheitan and everything but the ending of High Tension have all been infinitely better than most other offerings from around the world. I'd even put Irreversible in there. Can you think of one horror film made in America that truly shocked you that wasn't a remake or adaptation? The only truly great American horror film from last year was Midnight Meat Train and that was buried immediately upon release. That shows you just how much studio executives care about giving you good horror. Nowadays, Americans have a choice between the latest Saw rehash and a god awful Asian horror remake. Don't get me wrong, I love Hollywood as much as the next knucklehead, but they are clearly giving up on trumpeting original and/or daring horror films. That brings me to Martyrs. I can understand why some (probably most) people who see this film will predictably lump it in with torture porn/gorno flicks with a dismissive meh. Their entitled to their opinion (wrong as it is) nonetheless. What Martyrs does is force you to endure 90-odd minutes of sheer brutality in order to hammer home a philosophical point. Now some might scoff at that notion, but I was so knocked back by the effectiveness of this "point" that I couldn't believe that I saw what I just saw. I've heard there's a deal already in the works for an American remake. There's no way on earth that this film could ever exist in Hollywood and you owe it to yourself to see this jaw-dropping sucker punch of a shocker. If the last line of dialogue doesn't smack you right in the face, then you're not someone I'd want to hang out with...
Review of Martyrs
