Martyrs Review

Written by: One Bad Seed   

There's a 'rule' in filmmaking that the audience should know what your movie is about after the first twenty minutes or you risk losing them.

Martyrs lost me.

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

But not really - at least I think this tidbit is included in the back cover synopsis - yep, here it is:

"...Fifteen years later, with Anna s help, Lucie sets out to get revenge on her attackers. When she believes she has found the couple who abused her, she confronts them ...and that is when the terror truly begins."

So if it came as a surprise to any of you that a knock on the door would end in bloody carnage for this 'happy' family - then lucky you!

So is this movie about getting revenge on the people you believe harmed you? After they are all systematically dispatched (in a fit of violence that, for this reviewer, he's been numb to since watching Peckinpah's westerns) it appears there's more to the story...

The Ghost Chick? Is the movie about the Ghost Chick?

Five more minutes go by and NO! it's not about the Ghost Chick because guess what? And I'm the type of dude who rarely gets the 'guess' right when watching films - I don't often try - but c'mon, where's the surprise...?

When the protagonist Lucie dies? Who cares, we don't know ANYTHING about her other than she's been abused (we didn't see it - other than from the Ghost Chick, but we knew it was really her anyway - didn't we?) and she's got a chip on her shoulder that 's just been smoothed over.

Took me another day (and rental fee!) to watch the rest - cause I knew at this point I was gonna hafta complain about it somewheres... I really wanted to see this film when it screened in Montreal (it was shot here), and was miffed that I missed it... but ultimately glad I didn't.  The Fango article was all about how the Writer/ Director pissed off his crew and everyone was worried about the actor... blah-blah-blah. The only thing offensive about this film is it's half-assed story. See INSIDE a second/third/fourth time to experience great writing/directing and all the other shit GREAT HORROR is suppose to be.