I went into Martyrs not knowing too much about it aside from it being on some "Best Horror Movies of the 2000s" lists, and hearing it was extremely intense.
That last part is putting in mildly.
What I didn't really know is that Martyrs is basically my least favorite horror genre, torture porn, but with a better accent, and some high-falutin justifications for that torture. The thing is, it starts out terrific, with a young girl escaping a torture chamber, finding what she thinks is refuge in a girls home, only to find some evil entity has followed her there.
Then it jumps ahead several years, and becomes, for a bit, a home invasion horror film. And then the last quarter or so is just straight up torture that I kind of wish I had never exposed my brain to. There are some images you just can't ever forget.
I will give it this: at least there is no rape or sexual torture in it. I had also planned on watching High Tension, another of the "New French Extremity" films, but I think with Martyrs, I've had enough of that movement to last me a few years. At least.
Note: it was remade in the U.S. in 2015, and it sounds like that version is to be avoided at all costs, so if this is something you feel like you have to see, watch the original.
Martys is available to rent via several streaming services. I watched it on Apple TV+.
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