quietearth [Celluloid 05.25.08] movie review horror



There's been a lot of talk this past week about Pascal Laugier's horror flick Martyrs and it's all been good. We've been (im)patiently awaiting a trailer after seeing some really nice stills, but like many films which go up for sale at Cannes, we're going to have to wait a bit longer.. However, Quiet Earth friend and French director James L. Frachon managed to catch a screening and to put it mildly, he absolutely LOVED it, and considering we have similar taste in film this recommendation comes very highly. So much so that he wrote up a bit of a review for us, but I have to warn you it contains MAJOR SPOILERS and English is not James first language, so be nice folks. That said, if you're up for it check after the break for what James had to say! [Editor's note: Sorry folks, we were asked by the director to remove the review due to all the spoilers so we obliged.. We'll have more soon] UPDATE: See our new review here.

Martyrs official website with stills

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A question please...Thanks to answer it (12 years ago) Reply

At the end of the article when you said that a group of men and women grab Alaoui into a basement it is the end of the film or the movie continues?

Anonymous (12 years ago) Reply

Of course the film continues for an extra hour and many many things happen.
Don and I decided I shouldn't add more info, but yes indeed there's a whole lot surprising stuff going on.
The movie is not "porn gore"
It really has an amazing script.
No doubt it will bring a whole bunch of reactions from viewers.

Anonymous (12 years ago) Reply

Thanks for the answer but i'm sorry i have an another question.I'm french and i see mylene jampanoi(lucie) in a tv show to talk about Martyrs.Because they have no trailer yet they showed during the interview a short video of the film .This video showed two little girls in a field, a garden in the way like a homemade video; a family souvenir with a sentence " each year 650 children disapear in France".
That means the film talks about sisters, family, children disappearance?
Thanks to answer it, i can't wait to see Martyrs probably in 6 months when the dvd will come out because under 18 years old= not many theaters.
Thanks.

Anonymous (12 years ago) Reply

The scenes were flashbacks.
When you get to see the film, you will be taken into a very scary and original ride.
This film is not "porno gore" and it"s not just a boring slasher. It will take you much further than any other film did for a long time !
Of course the french theatrical release remains a mystery...due to its -18 classification.

Anonymous (12 years ago) Reply

the film is nothing but a 'porno gore' as the person above put it. sure, the story is creative, but that doesn't make it good. the execution is there, sometimes, and yet the movie comes off as lackluster for me. we've seen enough blood and guts and brains and torture and death in recent horror pics, and the one movie that can potentially add a little more meaning falls terribly short in trying to do so. kudos for trying, but there was a reason about 20 or more people walked out of this movie last night at TIFF. unfortunately, i wasn't so lucky and watched the whole thing.

NYCkid (11 years ago) Reply

After wasting 95 min. of my life, I felt like I had to come back here and tell everyone M.O.
So... its bloody.. its kinda scary.. the first 30 min. are good like everyone says.. BUT wow did this movie suck!!! horrible.. 2/10 stars.. rather watch a porn gore instead of this. Do you know what you see after death?? This movie NON-STOP. The producer should quit horror flicks and the writer has no hope in writing period.

Colton (11 years ago) Reply

... What is the sweet chocolate christ are you guys on? This movie was fucking genius. I just saw it yesterday, and I was rocked. This writer is on par with Gaspar Noe or the guy who did Funny games. He manages to make you empathize with the protagonist. Not to mention, this film didn't have as much violence as most other American garbage out nowadays. But alas, you couldn't get most of us Americans to recognize art if you gave them a biopsy with it. Stick with Saw, eh?

Anonymous (11 years ago) Reply

it sucked when it gets to the part where anna is taken down to the basement to suffer the same fate. i could have accepted that but the ending completely ruined it for me.

Anonymous (11 years ago) Reply

All these morons posting about how much it sucked either lack the intellectual fortitude to comprehend the tiniest inkling of a philosophical concept or the movie didn't end in the way they wanted it to. Please be reminded, "normal people" who can't think outside of the box and base their standards around what the majority expect are going to not get this movie, feel frustrated, and then rage at it for not being something they could understand.

Anonymous (11 years ago) Reply

A bad ending?? So let me guess, you wanted a predictable ending where Anna would get away and make it and live happily ever after? This isn't that kind of movie, this is a movie that you really have to think about. As far as too much gore... again, I'm baffled, it really wasn't all that gory in my opinion.

Anonymous (11 years ago) Reply

I thought this movie was ok. It was very emotional. I didn't expect it to end the way it did though, I thought maybe they would have atleast gotten to the point where they told everyone what they wanted to know. Was this then a waste of the many lives they took for their own sick benefits? It was funny in the sense that the many old people came to visit..but bitchy in the sense that lady took her life and held the knowledge of the after life for herself. What did the writer want us to think? Did he want us think it was a waste of lives or did he want us to believe that the after-life is so great that the lady couldn't even wait to die naturally she wanted die right away...
Overall it had a very well thought of plot, good actors and good visual effects. I don't regret watching this movie but I feel as if I wasted my time a bit.

jenna (11 years ago) Reply

Wow, I am from America, and I only wish films had this much thought. I love horror films, that is what prompted me to watch. Boy was I wrong. This film had it all for me, but most of all I am impressed with a movie that makes me think. My heart went out to Anna, and the irony of her having to share the smae fate as her friend. It makes you think about how many people trying to seek answers will go to any level to find them. I started with wow and end with WOW. I can not wait to see how Pascal Laugier will do next. He really has a fan here.

Anonymous (11 years ago) Reply

With or without gore, this movie sucked. The ending particularly. Major and minor things contributed to a horrible film, such as, let's waste some time showing the two girls drag EACH body into the shower (I guess that's a difference in foreign films and American films). One major thing, I could've gone with the horrible ending, but then the viewer and anna are mislead by the "soothing voice" (coming from the lady that feeds and beats her). "It's almost over, there's only one stage left", okay, so does she pass a test a live??? NO, let's skin her alive with NO sedatives, no pain killers, and look at her damn eyes and listen to her raspy, windy "voice", and slap an ending on there making the viewer "think".

dutchman (11 years ago) Reply

Anonymous on Oct 13, you are very good in your analysis. The ending is pure sadism. The "religious" sect nonsense seeking what happens after death is ridiculous, and the torture more of an end than a means. Very disturbing flick with far too much gore and not enough suspense or sense.

Gary (10 years ago) Reply

I really like this film...i recently purchased it and i really like the concept on it i hope the director will make more of this genre. also on another note after watching it numerous times it got me pondering what did Anna tell the Mademoiselle cause i thought obviously they did 17 years of research for this one explanation and we didnt even get a chance to hear it kinda bumped about that LoL but overall i give this film two thumbs up

james (9 years ago) Reply

LOL, This is a great movie for Pretentious dorks, who like to imagine that if its "French" it must be great art, and those detractors are a bunch of zilly Americans (takes frag from tiny cigar and puts on beret). Much like those who with a straight face tell me the Ils was a really scary movie.

The movie was torture prom....pseudo-intellectual torture porn, but all the same. It was also disjointed and poorly written, with a retarded premise.
Let me fill the geniuses in on something.....It's called dopamine.
When a body is subjected to extreme stress or pain, the body will shut down, and the brain will flood with the stuff.
TaDa, solved your friggen mystery for ya Einsteins.

But I guess if your going to make a vehicle for an hour of women beating, ya need to dress it up with something.

anon (9 years ago) Reply

this was one of the best films ever made, horror genre or not. references to Georges Bataille's book 'Erotisism' which examines our fetishisation of the beauty of suffering, combined with the experience of the victim and the emptiness of narcissism.

like Pasolini, Laugier critiques a cynical world unable or unwilling to examine its own cruelty. a film about suffering that is for once, seen from the victim's point of view. 'Martyr' is an ironic term because while finding one is the evil cult's goal, the victims triumph through love and their humanity, eventually exposing hatred's disconnection from the true value of life. it's the triumph of love over corrupt power and the desire for materialistic, selfish immortality.

for those who didn't get it, the cult leader woman killed herself because by finding what she had been looking for, she was faced with her own emptiness. the best horror is about human psychology and this is a dark fairytale written in 2 acts.

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