Martyrs (2008, FRA/CDN) C-99m. **½ D: Pascal Laugier. Starring Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoi, Catherine Bégin, Robert Toupin, Patricia Tulasne, Xavier Dolan. Difficult to stomach horror thriller that does not offer any kind of relief to its audience. A young girl escapes from torture hell and grows up in an asylum. 15 years later she finds her perpetrators and bluntly kills them. However, there's an imagined(?) demon tormenting her and her girlfriend tries to help her in vain. Is there any escape from this bloody nightmare? The answer is no. Typically nihilistic French horror is competently filmed and has a chilling twist, but it's unrelenting in many ways, not exactly uplifting. Pretty much as gory and vile as it gets, not recommended to anybody who's not into cult or horror. Written by director Laugier (SAINT ANGE).



© Ron Altman @ www.cultfilmz.com