15 Obscure Horror Films You Need To See
9. Martyrs
Ah the French, once so adept at expanding our minds by pushing the boundaries of what a film could be in terms of composition, verve and style, have decided to hark in the new millennium by grossing us out with a fleet unique horror movies. Hello the New French Extremity wave, Truffaut and Goddard would be proud.
Very much a part of this movement, Martyrs is a gorehound's delight, but beneath the scenes of torture on women and some trippy hallucinations, the movie transcends the standard we expect from a home invasion plot, thanks to story twists and strong perforamnces from leads Morjana Alaoui and Mylène Jampanoï. Martyrs would go on to split critics down the middle, and get the French classification board in a tizz over whether an 18+ rating was acceptable, given the visceral yuck on show, but overall this is a film that horror fans need to see.
In a predictable twist, the film's plot was dealt a grim evisceration via a pointless remake this year, which is understandably obscure for all the right reasons.