Fantastic Fest 2008: Martyrs

Reader Comments

1. Garth 09/25/2008 @ 3:50pm

   *SPOILERS WILL PROBABLY ABOUND*

   I’m not trying to get into an argument, but it completely amazes me that people pretend that the motivations given in this film are somehow better or more noble than “simply for sick thrills and chills”.  I mean really, randomly kindnapping young women (one of whom was 10-12 years old) and then torturing them relentlessly over the course of months or years, bringing them to the verge of DEATH in some bullshit attempt at seeing the afterlife is somehow more valid and noble than the equally evil, cruel and deranged “I wanted to know what her insides looked like”?

   This isn’t meant as an attack on you Mack, or on anyone in particular, it just strikes me as amazing that people see this as a noble, almost GOOD reason…

2. impossiblefunky 09/25/2008 @ 7:25pm

   Agreed.

3. kungfueurotrash 09/26/2008 @ 12:07am

   Hey, I respect your opinion garth, but as a movie in the horror genre, it fits pretty damn well…

4. adam mason 09/26/2008 @ 12:56am

   i saw this the other day. Was REALLY looking forward to it. Unfortunately its been a long time since a film has annoyed me like this one did. It makes no attempt at a story, likable characters, or even a basic structure. Call me old fashioned i know, but i was desperately searching for anything to latch my interest onto here… The first hour is utterly fucking bewildering, and the ‘twist’ that follows is where the film actually finally starts from a plot perspective, after being frankly rather boring for sixty mins. This is the one interesting part of the movie, and lasts for maybe three mins. Pity then that just as you think the film might finally have something of merit to say, what follows is 45 excruciatingly boring mins of torture, where you really couldn’t care less what you are watching because the female ‘protagonist’ is so badly drawn in the first place that you just do not give a shit.
   A real shame this film. One of those movies that is offensive unfortunately purely because it is bad. The gore was cartoonish to boot with some really pretty dodgy latex work. Inside is a much, much better film than this, mainly because it was made by a couple of guys who could actually tell a story.
   I was really hoping that Eli had killed off the sub-genre of girls getting cut up in chairs with the godawful hostel movies - but hostel is a fucking masterpiece compared to this. And that is about the worst thing i can think to say about Martyrs.

5. Swarez 09/26/2008 @ 1:56am

   Wait? This was at the festival? When did it screen?

6. Kurt Halfyard 09/26/2008 @ 5:21am

   Here. Here. Adam.  Well said!  (Although I do think that the Hostel films work well as black comedies)

7. georgia 09/26/2008 @ 7:49am

   I wouldn’t say the intentions of this film are noble, but they are pretty obviously not JUST about cheap thrills. I think the director was aiming for a deep, disturbing connection with the audience - and he achieved that, at least with me. For whatever reason, I was deeply disturbed by this movie’s premise as much as by its violence.

   We’re supposed to be left sickened and horrified by the possibility that human beings could believe that such terrible treatment of a person was for a higher purpose. Every line of dialogue from the group of torturers makes it plain that these are selfish, disgusting people attempting to manufacture a state of religious ecstasy. So Garth is right - the premise of this movie is JUST as sick as Hostel or any typical slasher flick. Maybe even sicker because the torturers are greedily chasing after a look at the beyond, thinking they have a noble purpose. And the film even seems to imply that the answer they receive isn’t what they wanted to hear.

   Also, I don’t think it matters that Anna isn’t a well-developed character, because it doesn’t matter to the torturers who she is. They are simply trying to create a martyr for their own uses. All that matters to them is the end result - a description of the world after death.

   Swarez, it screened twice yesterday, and it wasn’t on the printed schedule.

8. Garth 09/26/2008 @ 8:51am

   I was more sickened and horrified by the idea that some rich douche would want to experience killing someone and be willing to pay for it than by this idea.

   And I wasn’t sickened or horrified by Hostel at all…

9. Mack 09/26/2008 @ 9:00am

   Thank you georgia. It was really hard to write this one because I didn’t want to give away the ‘reveal’ at the end of the film. I had two whole paragraphs committed to martyrdom and faith and felt I couldn’t include them in my review lest I spill the beans for the rest of our readers.

   It indeed splits an audience. You love it or you HATE it. A lot more in the second camp it would seem. But I am loving the dialogue that it generates. Very thoughtful dialogue. Not like a talkback over at AICN.

   Sorry. Swarez. Yes, they announced these screenings mid-week and could only fit them in on the last day. Say hi to the guys for me. I went and saw Astropia again, sat with Ingvar. It played very well.

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