Martyrs

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler

I've watched some pretty brutal films in my time, I love seeking out the extreme and the shocking. This year, I've already seen Salo and A Serbian Film this year but this is the most intriguing to me of the bunch. It's brutal, shocking, dark dark dark, never lets go of the audience and also manages to be rather thought provoking too.

Right from the start the film expertly keeps tripping you up, defying expectations and never giving you a firm footing to figure out what's going on. Is it a ghost story? Is it torture porn? Is it a slasher? One thing it's certainly not is funny. There is not one small moment of levity, the film never lets up.

This film has one of my all time favourite bait and switches at the beginning. It's very mean spirited and completely shocking and I love it to death. Best watched with the sound pumped up for maximum effect. The opening segments are filled with energy, sound and fury. And then when the film kicks into the final phase it slows down and becomes unrelenting and almost unbearable. It takes its time to get to the point and doesn't reveal it's true intentions for quite some time.

It's in these moments you realise they way the film is expertly constructed to mess with the audience. It's after a reaction and it won't fail to get it one way or another.

The dedicated performances of the leads in this film are rather staggering. what they are required to pull off physically and emotionally is enormous and they are incredible.

The other stand out here is the make up effects. Not just some simple gore and buckets of blood, this film has some beautifully designed prosthetic effects and three full body jobs that are stunning and horrifying.

I've been avoiding saying anything about the plot of characters, this is a film best discovered. But rest assured it's brutal and fascinating. One of the best horror films of the decade.