A young woman’s quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tortured her as a child leads her and her best friend, also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
Credits: TheMovieDb.
Film Cast:
- Anna Assaoui: Morjana Alaoui
- Lucie Jurin: Mylène Jampanoï
- Mademoiselle: Catherine Bégin
- Le Père: Robert Toupin
- La Mère: Patricia Tulasne
- Marie: Juliette Gosselin
- Antoine: Xavier Dolan
- Mère d’Anna (voice): Louise Boisvert
- Étienne: Jean-Marie Moncelet
- Lucie 10 ans: Jessie Pham
- Anna 10 ans: Erika Scott
- La créature: Isabelle Chasse
- La suppliciée: Emilie Miskdijan
- Docteur: Tony Robinow
- La Femme: Anie Pascale
- Bourreau: Mike Chute
Film Crew:
- Editor: Sébastien Prangère
- Supervising Sound Editor: Germain Boulay
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Jérôme Wiciak
- Producer: Richard Grandpierre
- Writer: Pascal Laugier
- Makeup Effects: Adrien Morot
- Director of Photography: Bruno Philip
- Makeup Effects: Benoît Lestang
- Director of Photography: Stéphane Martin
- Casting: Helene Rousse
- Director of Photography: Nathalie Moliavko-Visotzky
- Sound Editor: Steven Utt
- Executive Producer: Marcel Giroux
- Executive Producer: Frédéric Doniguian
- Production Design: Jean-Andre Carriere
- Original Music Composer: Alex Cortés
- Original Music Composer: Willie Cortés
- Set Decoration: Louisa Schabas
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Pierre-Simon Lebrun-Chaput
- Costume Design: Claire Nadon
- Unit Manager: Daniel Langlois
- Visual Effects: Emily Vaillancourt
- Co-Producer: Simon Trottier
- Production Manager: Donald Tetreault
- Post Production Supervisor: Doris Yoba
- Visual Effects Producer: Yanick Wilisky
- Sound Editor: Serge Rouquairol
Movie Reviews:
- CipE: Rated this 5/10 due to large amounts of repeated and gratuitous violence.
Is it worth torturing people to find out if there is life after death?
This movie’s answer seems to be “Keep doubting”. - John Chard: Martyrs: Greek for Witness.
Martyrs is written and directed by Pascal Laugier. It stars Morjana Alaoui and Mylene Jampanoi.
The New French Extremity Movement had its bar raised considerably by Pascal Laugier’s brutal but thought provoking horror. It’s a film as uncompromising as it is confrontational, a picture guaranteed to get a response for better or worse. Once viewed it simply will not be forgotten, the images, the twisty narrative thematics and the bloodshed that flows consistently throughout the story, Laugier and his two brilliant lead actresses assault the senses, magnificently so.
Story is unfurled as a three tiered structure, each one devastating, but it’s with the final third where the picture goes up through the stratosphere, stopping briefly at the café weird just to further tickle our craniums. Some of the violence here is tough to watch, and it’s no surprise to find it was met with the inevitable charges of misogyny. Yet the culmination of it all puts some perspective on the violence witnessed, leading to a strangely profound and moving climax.
The less you know about it going in for the first time the better. A strong stomach is required, as is an open mind, if you have these things then awaiting you is a visceral masterwork, one of the finest horror film’s to have ever come out of France. Yes, it’s that astonishing. 10/10
- Repo Jack: I wrote this once to describe my philosophy on what movies/TV I like:
“Ravenous fan of dark, edgy movies & TV. They should glue you to the screen and stay in your dreams.”
Martyrs is one of a handful that describes that perspective to the T, and it is the kind of horror movie that you should go in completely clueless about the plot to enjoy the many twists that you won’t see coming.
A big caveat: this is “advanced” horror — gut-wrenching, gory and very disturbing. Definitely not for everybody.