10 Best Horror Movies That Aren't Supernatural
3. Martyrs (2008)
If there’s one film that definitively proves there doesn’t need to be any supernatural elements for it to be effective, it’s Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs.
A masterclass in New French Extremity cinema, the film makes its statement of intent early on when we see a family mercilessly gunned down in the middle of a quiet Sunday breakfast by a young girl (Mylène Jampanoï) with a shotgun. And from here events only become more transgressive and sickening.
After the discovery of a hidden basement in the house and the revelation of what lies within, the film’s second half switches gears from revenge thriller to all-out torture porn. Changing to the perspective of Lucie’s friend Anna (Morjana Alaoui), we’re invited to look at the impact of unthinkable acts of violence. But what separates Martyrs from the likes of other torture porn classics such as Hostel is that Laugier uses his film as meditation on the nature of pain and suffering.
There is substance and meaning in the cruelty onscreen, but if you want to see it you’ll need to endure in the suffering alongside our unfortunate protagonists.
If you think can stomach this grotesque monster, then Martyrs is a must watch for any horror fanatic.