Film Review: Martyrs
Martyrs is one of those movies that are considered so controversial and I don’t quite understand why. Maybe that’s because I’m not fazed by anything. After watching 2008′s Deadgirl, I think I’ve plumbed the depths of exploitation that a film can indulge in (and I liked the movie). Lots of people emphasize the “gore” aspect of Martyrs for some reason, but I really don’t think the movie is that bloody, the gore isn’t even as extreme as in many mainstream movies.
This movie is a little tricky. It takes huge, drastic, nearly schizophrenic turns in plot; what’s kind of odd is that it’s sort of about three entirely different things, and sectioned into different parts. It tells the story of Lucie, the main character (during the first part of the film), who as a young girl was kidnapped and horribly abused and tortured by this married couple and escaped, permanently traumatized. She carries a sort of “ghost” around, a vicious feral woman that Lucie perceives as physically attacking her in rage, and for a while it’s hard to tell what this ghost really is, to figure out the reality. (Initially I thought that she might be the grown-up “ghost” of the little girl who was locked up and abused in that basement, that it was who Lucie would have been if she hadn’t in reality escaped; I don’t know if that makes any sense, though).
Tags: film reviews, horror movies, martyrs, surreal horror, torture
David Ho
David Ho is a digital artist and illustrator with a horror-oriented style. His work has a wide range and some of his images are quite different from these selections, but I’ve chosen these “child portraits” of his to portray a unified theme of innocence/corruption or darkness. The macabre, fantasy, myth, and sexuality mix in his works, usually in a very darkly lit, gloomy space with a “cold, metallic” palette.
Tags: david ho, illustrations, innocence/menace, modern fairy tales, pop surrealism, surreal horror
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