Martyrs (2008)
Directed by Pascal Laugier
Written by Pascal Laugier
Starring Morjana Alaoui, Mylen Jampanoi
Release Date September 3rd, 2008
As part of our Christmas celebration each year on the Everyone is a Critic Movie Podcast, myself, and my co-hosts, Bob Zerull and Josh Adams engage in movie gift exchange. We each buy each other a movie, watch the movie and then talk about it in a special bonus podcast. This year, Bob’s not so Secret Santa gift for me was the bizarre and fascinating 2008 French horror movie, Martyrs.
French Director Pascal Laugier opens the DVD presentation of Martyrs with an apology. Laugier wants you to know that he’s sorry for what he has committed to film and while it’s half-hearted and self-deprecating, I appreciated it nonetheless. I actually don’t feel he has much to apologize for. Strangely, though, I tend to be a scold when it comes to movies that fall under the banner of "torture porn," I found something else in the movie beyond the simplistic and dismissive labeling.
Martyrs stars Mylene Jampanoi as Lucie, a woman we meet as she was escaping unimaginable torture. Taken to a nearby orphanage, Lucie is cared for and raised and eventually makes a friend in Anna (Morjana Alaoui). This all passes by during the credits and a brief prologue scene that shows us that Lucie suffers from delusions that push her to self-harm.
Cut to 15 years later and we have no idea where Lucie and Anna are. We find ourselves in a sunny suburban kitchen. A normal-ish family is having breakfast with the familiar bickering of teenage siblings and the loving scolding of parents all while food is served and enjoyed. A knock at the door interrupts things but not as much as the shotgun blast that follows. It’s Lucie, she’s come to kill this entire family.
Find my full length review in the Horror Community on Vocal.
