Martyrs

 This American remake of the infamous French horror film is the story of Lucie, who as a child was tortured by a secret group for unknown reasons. After escaping and befriending a girl named Anna, the two friends make it a goal to find and kill those who tortured Lucie to help her find peace. 

When I first saw Martyrs (2008) by Pascal Laugier a few years back, it was one of the most gut-wrenching horror films I had ever seen, and is considered to be the goriest slasher second only to Inside (2007), another French horror film. I watched it by myself during a late night due to lack of sleepiness, and upon finishing I received this sour/nauseated feeling in my stomach.  Part of what makes the movie so hard to watch is seeing what kind of physical/emotional pain the young women go through, and then the big reveal of why they go through it. 

Why then would I want to see the American remake of a film that caused my body such discomfort?  I couldn't tell ya, maybe it's some Freudian thing. But the Goetz brothers were able to recreate some of the same disturbing aspects of the previous film, and improve upon the ending by adding a twist and upping the gore aspect.  The burn can be a little slow in this movie, but like many good horror films that slow burn explodes into morbid chaos that I find pleasing

4/5