Martyrs (2008) review

MARTYRS 2008

Morjana Alaoui (Anna), Mylene Jampanoi (Lucie)

Directed by Pascal Laugier


A young girl, Lucie, held captive and tortured manages to escape her abductors. After 15 years of living only for the chance to gain retribution on those who brutally savaged her, Lucie and her childhood friend, Anna, seek out those responsible for Lucie's unhinged state of mind. Their journey leads them down a path of insanity, wanton despair and violent death.


For the last few years France has been the haven for extreme horror with a slew of releases that have breathed new life into the waning horror genre. Films such as HIGH TENSION (2003) and INSIDE (2007) are among a group of hungry filmmakers splashing their ambitious ideas in bold red brush strokes across cinema screens and television sets. Some of these gruesomely foul flicks from France borrow themes and ideas from American horror films of the glorious decade that was the 1970's and amalgamate them into something unique and often disturbingly fresh and unique.


Pascal Laugier's MARTYRS is one such movie, but totally flies over the heads of any other Euro horror of late. There are many words one could use to describe MARTYRS and many of those could be taken as praise or damnation. It's not an easy film to recommend, nor describe. Nor is it a film for just anybody, nor a film for just any horror fan for that matter. Beautifully shot and meticulously filmed, it's like a nightmare caught on celluloid unfolding before the viewers eyes.


Mere words cannot do the film justice in terms of the cavalcade of depravity that takes place over the course of the most uncomfortable 100 minutes you will see from a picture of recent memory. MARTYRS (2008) joins the ranks of other supremely depressing cinematic experiences like SALO, THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM (1975), CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979) and MEN BEHIND THE SUN (1988). Laugier's movie is the first in years that made me not want to finish watching in one go. Earlier this evening I managed to bring myself to sit down and bear witness to the final 40 minutes of this nauseating, yet mesmerizing movie.


One of the most impressive feats accomplished by the director is that the viewer totally connects (on both a visceral and emotional level) with the main protagonists; especially Lucie, the initial fractured and destroyed soul the film begins with and whose path to bloody revenge we follow along. During the first 50 minutes the viewer is bombarded with numerous shots of disturbing imagery in the form of a disfigured and badly mutilated form of what used to be a woman. This figure haunts Lucie's memory torturing her further. It isn't until later on that it 's revealed just who and what this frightening apparition represents.


Not only has Lucie been through a living hell, but she continuously punishes herself through an agonizing series of self mutilation in addition to attaining her vengeance in one of the most harrowing sequences of violence ever to grace the screen. The viewer is introduced to this family of four and aside from some raucous verbal exchanges between them, they seem like any other seemingly wholesome and financially successful family. What transpires after the sudden and vicious home invasion sequence is beyond words or reasonable sanity.


Once Lucie's appetite for grim retribution has been satiated, the film veers into an even more grim and reprehensible arena of revulsion. Just when the atmosphere couldn't get any more dismal, the audience is hit once again with a continuous slate of broken and destroyed bodies before the hour mark hits and this ostensibly clean cut family home is invaded yet again. What transpires from this point on is a cross pollination of repugnant scenes of cruelty and thought provoking connotations of a religious and allegorical level.


Despite being one of the most uncomfortable movies ever made, it's all brilliantly acted and painstakingly photographed. The films plot never makes itself known till roughly the hour mark once the home of the perpetrators is occupied once more by what appears to be a cult of wealthy and prominent men and women of some repute. Their purpose is explained by the elderly and cold faced Mademoiselle. During this sequence, the films title is also explained.


Prior to this sequence, the audience has been assaulted with a long series of nasty images and disgusting scenes of pugnacity that, upon first glance, appear to be violence for violence sake. The oppressive aura of aggression never slows down even after the film makes its philosophical, yet macabre purpose known. Once Anna has become a 'Martyr in training', we are again thrown into a dark room with nothing but merciless and callous cruelty as our company. However, as the film reaches its doom laden climax, the shock ending leaves the audience to make up their own minds as to the true nature of the final moments and its pitiless meaning.


Pascal Laugier has created a serious horror masterpiece that will be the subject of admiration and acclaim as well as scorn and unquestionable abjuration for years to come. One of the key elements aside from the highly effective performances are the grueling special effects. These (thankfully) practical effects are a breath of fresh air amidst the all too numerous American horror flicks of late that rely on horrendous computer generated "special effects" for their shock value. The scenes of bodily destruction and defilement attain a Cronenbergian level of unpleasantness. Once the films plot rears its metaphysically ugly head, the production transcends its appearance as a far more polished version of HOSTEL (2005) and becomes what is possibly the first ever thinking mans gorefest.


Despite the nature of the picture and its inescapable collage of cruelty, it's a hypnotic and mesmerizing horror film that some will find hard to classify and even harder to actually "enjoy". I doubt anyone with a serious interest in horror can outright say they enjoyed the movie. I don't mean that in a derogatory fashion, either. MARTYRS isn't your average horror film certainly not in the same category as prior French horror films of the last few years and definitely leagues above just about anything released in America in recent years. More of an endurance test, it offers up underlying themes that belie its many scenes of torture and sadism much in the way Deodato's CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979) was about the cruelty the media can create through sensationalism with violent consequences. You will surely not like what you see, you may in fact hate it...but one thing is for certain, you will not soon forget it. Its a groundbreakingly offensive work that should be seen by any serious fan of the horror genre.

This review is representative of the Weinstein Company Unrated DVD.

The Rebel (1980) review

THE REBEL aka POLIZIOTTO, SOLITUDINE E RABBIA (POLICEMAN, SOLITUDE & ANGER) 1980

Maurizio Merli (Nick Rossi), Francisco Rabal (Tony), Jutta Speidel (Vivian), Reinherd Kolldehoff (Heminshtoller), Arthur Brauss (Klause Veidt), Bobby Rhodes (Jamaica)

Directed by Stelvio Massi


Retired cop, Nick Rossi is payed a visit from his former partner, Tony about joining him as a bodyguard for established clientele. At first declining the offer, Nick quickly accepts and joins his friend for the job of protecting a visiting German banker. Touring a Venice glass making facility, the wealthy businessman is assassinated anyway and Tony is mortally wounded in the violent skirmish. Vowing to avenge his friend, Rossi goes to great lengths to learn the truth behind the spate of assassinations of wealthy entrepreneurs. In aiding the police, his journey takes him to Berlin where Rossi cunningly assumes the identity of one of the hitmen. While there, he meets a beautiful woman who initiates him into the secret society of international killers. Some time after, Rossi's cover is blown and he himself becomes a target of the powerful criminal organization.


THE REBEL (1980) is one of the last great movies to emerge from the dying European crime genre that flourished in Italy throughout the 1970's. Of the various movies I've seen from Stelvio Massi, this ranks up there with the best. The first few films of his I had viewed were mediocre, but then something like THE REBEL comes along and changes that perspective. The man has definitely directed some top tier entries amidst some lower level actioners. This production stands out as one of his best.


With Massi's notable career as an accomplished cinematographer, his penchant for innovative ways to shoot a scene is in evidence here through the lens of cameraman, Pier Luigi Santi. To Santi's credit, there are a number of unusual lighting effects in certain scenes with Merli. His face is illuminated while around him is more dimly lit. There's also some nice panning and dolly shots that add some extra emotional impact to certain sequences.


More suspense thriller than action film, THE REBEL (1980) also marks popular actor, Maurizio Merli's final bow in the genre. Like a few of his previous outings, this picture is vastly different from his more well known and kinetic cop films such as VIOLENT ROME (1975) and SPECIAL COP IN ACTION (1976). While there are the requisite shootouts and chases, the bulk of the movie revolves around the intrigue and assassination aspects of the storyline. Also, the characterizations are more deep than usual. Merli as Nick Rossi is a tortured soul who resigned from the force after his family was killed in what is presumed to have been in response to his then career of choice.

"You're too cunning, my friend, much too cunning for a simple crook."



Rossi is very similar to Paul Kersey, the character essayed by Charles Bronson in the seminal DEATH WISH (1974). Everyone he cares about, anyone he gets close to ends up dead. His relationship with anguish and loss only adds to the already somber atmosphere that permeates the snow bound German locations. Constantly watched and distrusted by the organization that hired him, Rossi barely manages to stay one step ahead of his employers. Merli's hitman is crafty and guileful, much different from his more popular roles as an impetuous and recalcitrant policeman.

"I believe a moment of true love is worth a life."


The character of Vivian is also well drawn and played with increasing trepidation by Jutta Speidel. Her character prefers to not ever get too close to one of her lovers, but she fails at this when she meets Nick Rossi. The two become involved in a relationship and you're not quite sure at first if Rossi is simply using her to get close to the killers, or if he genuinely has feelings for her. Not long after, she learns that Nick is actually a cop, but because she loves him, she ultimately puts her life at risk. The love story angle is quite different for this type of picture especially when so much time is devoted to it as it is here over the course of the films 104 minute running time.


Considering so many people (in Italy and abroad) say that Merli owed his popularity to his likeness to Franco Nero, the man obviously wished to alter his persona in ways to detach himself from this stigma. Not only that, but the proliferation of violent cop movies had pretty much ran there course at this point and change was inevitable. Merli delivers one of his most varied policeman roles made most notable by the relationship with the likewise tortured character of Vivian. Merli had been given love interests in past movies, but not quite to the extent seen here. The sad and heartbreaking piano backed love song that pops up infrequently as both an instrumental piece and vocally over the end credits perfectly sums up their relationship.


The amount of time afforded the characters does indeed pay off, though, as it greatly accentuates the action scenes and THE REBEL has merely a few, but they're all ably choreographed and very exciting. The Venice glass shop shootout/boat chase is a highlight as is the emotionally impactful conclusion in and around a railway station. Sprinkled in between these two are some mini action scenes ranging from some minor fisticuffs and gun battles. The Italians propensity for slow motion scenes are also seen here although it's used sparingly to emphasize action and not just for the sake of it. Overall THE REBEL (1980) is a very well made movie that I enjoyed very much mainly because it was so different and transcended the need for exploitation and excessive violence to bolster its marquee value.


While fans who watch these pictures just for that reason will likely be disappointed, I recommend this movie most highly. However, if you are new to the genre, I would say start with one of Merli's more fashionable action films such as VIOLENT NAPLES, or the sleazy delights of fan fave ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH (both 1976) before investigating more "mature" works such as this one. Just the same, POLIZIOTTO, SOLITUDINE E RABBIA (aka THE REBEL) is one of the best films from both Maurizio Merli and director, Stelvio Massi and is long overdue some praise from more fans of the Italo crime genre.

This film can be purchased at the link below....

http://www.trash-online.com/main2.htm