A young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
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Directors:
Oxide Pang Chun,
Danny Pang
Stars:
Angelica Lee,
Lawrence Chou,
Jinda Duangtoy
After a family is forced to relocate for their son's health, they begin experiencing supernatural behavior in their new home, which turns out to be a former mortuary.
Director:
Peter Cornwell
Stars:
Virginia Madsen,
Kyle Gallner,
Elias Koteas
Fifteen years after a horrifying experience of abduction and prolonged torture, Lucie embarks on a bloody quest for revenge against her oppressors. Along with her childhood friend, Anna, who also suffered abuse, she quickly descends, without hope, into madness and her own delusions. Anna, left on her own begins to re-experience what Lucie did when she was only twelve years old. Written by
kwedgwood@hotmail.com
In Pascal Laugier's previous film Saint Ange, the main character is called Anna Jurin. In Martyrs, Anna is one of the female leads' character names, whilst Lucie Jurin is the other. See more »
Goofs
As the mother is kicked into the pit, a body flinches to brace itself for the impact of the mother falling on him. See more »
Quotes
Lucie:
Is this making you sick? Can you smell that smell? Smells awful, huh? Every time she bent over me, I could smell that, every day. Understand? And it smelled different when she beat me.
See more »
I just got back from the midnight screening at TIFF, with a typical Midnight Madness audience that I would characterize as easy to please but difficult to impress. This film impressed us, as it was clearly a cut above (so to speak) the average genre film. The first act takes recent French horror films like High Tension, Inside and Frontiere(s) and shoves them into a hyper-violent blender. So far, so good. The second, far more emotionally grisly act elevates the cinematic experience to almost art-film heights, with sadly realistic parallels to our current insane world situation. Oh, there was a vomiting patron here, too.
The director was there along with the two lead actresses (who are looking much better now, I'm glad to say.) He told us that the film has secured distribution in 40 French-speaking countries, but that he hopes it will be viewed elsewhere on DVD only, to ensure that we see it uncut. Someone asked a question that referenced Michael Haneke's Funny Games, (I didn't quite hear the whole question, as the person was well back in the theater) but it really set M. Laugier off -- he denounced FG as "shit" and proclaimed his film "the anti-Funny Games." He was fine with the hour and a half brutalization of an innocent family, but felt strongly that it didn't have a sufficient point to make, or justification for the violence - "it just ends." I'm not sure I feel that way about FG, but it was interesting to hear his opinion. It's hard to discuss how Martyrs backs up it's pretension to be superior without spoiling it, however. To echo another comment, you'll have to see for yourself. Enjoy (not!)
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I just got back from the midnight screening at TIFF, with a typical Midnight Madness audience that I would characterize as easy to please but difficult to impress. This film impressed us, as it was clearly a cut above (so to speak) the average genre film. The first act takes recent French horror films like High Tension, Inside and Frontiere(s) and shoves them into a hyper-violent blender. So far, so good. The second, far more emotionally grisly act elevates the cinematic experience to almost art-film heights, with sadly realistic parallels to our current insane world situation. Oh, there was a vomiting patron here, too.
The director was there along with the two lead actresses (who are looking much better now, I'm glad to say.) He told us that the film has secured distribution in 40 French-speaking countries, but that he hopes it will be viewed elsewhere on DVD only, to ensure that we see it uncut. Someone asked a question that referenced Michael Haneke's Funny Games, (I didn't quite hear the whole question, as the person was well back in the theater) but it really set M. Laugier off -- he denounced FG as "shit" and proclaimed his film "the anti-Funny Games." He was fine with the hour and a half brutalization of an innocent family, but felt strongly that it didn't have a sufficient point to make, or justification for the violence - "it just ends." I'm not sure I feel that way about FG, but it was interesting to hear his opinion. It's hard to discuss how Martyrs backs up it's pretension to be superior without spoiling it, however. To echo another comment, you'll have to see for yourself. Enjoy (not!)