10 Times Horror Directors Admitted They Went Too Far

It isn't surprising in the slightest to learn Martyrs director Pascal Laugier was battling depression while writing the script. In his own words, he was driven to "make a movie about pain."

In this unnerving French horror, a young woman, Lucie, vows to hunt down the people who tortured her as a child and exact her revenge. When Lucie tracks her tormentors down, it's revealed their evil actions were spurred by something far more complicated and disturbing than anyone could've anticipated.

Though the director has dealt with similar themes of child abuse in his other work, such as The Tall Man and Ghostland, Martyrs took it to a whole other level, according to many, including Laugier himself.

Unlike other entries on this list, Laugier didn't apologise about Martyrs' extreme violence and subject matter in a random interview. Instead, he had an apology video packaged with the DVD, explaining that he's pre-emptively sorry if the film impacts viewers in a negative way (which it most certainly will).

Although Laugier's decision is considerate, the fact that he was compelled to include this video in the DVD reenforces just how messed up Martyrs is.