#100HorrorMoviesfor100Days Day 18

Day 18: Martyrs
Writer: Pascal Laugier
Director: Pascal Laugier
Year released: 2008

I had seen this movie’s name pop up on one of those best-horror-movies-you-have-not-seen-lists some time ago. The list included a few seconds of the opening: A young girl in torn, bloodied clothes running through an industrial part of town. For much of the beginning of the film you believe this is another one of those female objectification movies, which quite frankly I find lazy and in poor taste. The movie certainly took a turn into an area I would never have imagined. Telling you what that turn is would be spoiling what sets this horror film apart from so many. It’s worth a watch, but I warn you, this movie does have heavy elements of torture horror. It’s hard to watch at points, and I admit to pausing it to take a walk through the house and clear my head before returning. The film is French so be prepared for subtitles.

Overview: A young woman searches and finds the people who held and tortured her as a young girl, but we learn that world of torture is much more sinister and deprave than imagined, and that there is a purpose behind the pain.

1. Pascal Laugier admitted that he was inspired, in part, by Hostel (2005).
2. Many movie studios turned the movie down.
3. It was difficult to find actresses to play the lead because of the level of violence it depicts.
4. The movie is considered to fall into the category of New French Extremity movement.
5. The film is in talks for an American remake.