Somewhere in France, a seemingly pleasant suburban family (including their young children) is killed in cold blood by a shotgun-wielding young woman. Calling her friend, she explains that they were the people who kidnapped and tortured her 15 years earlier. Thats just the opening 20 minutes of Martyrs, a movie that doesnt care what you think its not interested in playing by the rules. You can say that it blows its credibility early on, relies too heavily on repetitive scenes of torture and that the final explanation for the crimes is senseless and laughable, but it never shies away from its exploration of the depths of human depravity, and therein lies its power. If it copped out with a safe ending, Martyrs would be easy to dismiss (and send up), but it has a single-minded desire to go there, and whether or not you want to follow, or think the journey was worth taking, you have to admire its resolve.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
