gryeates
Mannikin
Martyrs, directed by Pascal Laugier, is part of the recent new wave in French horror cinema. Out of all the films that come under this banner, it is the one I rate most highly. The reason for this being that it manages to blend extremely graphic and disturbing violence seamlessly with a tale of metaphysical horror. No mean feat to my mind.
In the first act, we are witness to a massacre committed by Lucie, a victim of child abuse, who has been searching for those who tortured since her release from care with the help of her friend, Anna. One aspect of the first act that I particularly admired was that the film is at pains to emphasise that the motives for Lucie’s abusers were never sexual, which considering recent trends in horror cinema, leaves a question hanging as to why these people do what they do. It is also made clear that their work is secret and hidden rather than grandstanding ‘Jigsaw’ or 'Hostel' theatrics.
In the second act, more is revealed and this is where I was most impressed as a film that seemed, up until this point, to owe much to Takashi Miike’s The Audition and Hideo Nakata’s Ring suddenly shifted into very different territory where gore is dispensed with and a hope-deprived emptiness, both emotional and mental, becomes key.
I don’t really want to say too much here as it would spoil the film for those who have not seen it. All I will say is that Martyrs succeeds as a horror film that blends modern trends in the genre in with a disturbing cosmic conclusion that had me thinking of Lovecraft in the best and purest sense.
In the first act, we are witness to a massacre committed by Lucie, a victim of child abuse, who has been searching for those who tortured since her release from care with the help of her friend, Anna. One aspect of the first act that I particularly admired was that the film is at pains to emphasise that the motives for Lucie’s abusers were never sexual, which considering recent trends in horror cinema, leaves a question hanging as to why these people do what they do. It is also made clear that their work is secret and hidden rather than grandstanding ‘Jigsaw’ or 'Hostel' theatrics.
In the second act, more is revealed and this is where I was most impressed as a film that seemed, up until this point, to owe much to Takashi Miike’s The Audition and Hideo Nakata’s Ring suddenly shifted into very different territory where gore is dispensed with and a hope-deprived emptiness, both emotional and mental, becomes key.
I don’t really want to say too much here as it would spoil the film for those who have not seen it. All I will say is that Martyrs succeeds as a horror film that blends modern trends in the genre in with a disturbing cosmic conclusion that had me thinking of Lovecraft in the best and purest sense.
