#61  
Old 08-27-2009, 03:37 AM
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I enjoyed it more than Martyrs to be honest. The nazi characters were a hoot :D

But yeh it was Hostel buzz once again with some heavy handed left wing idealogy hammered in, that was a bit abvious and annoying.

There was another film it was similar too with a bunch of ravers ending up at a psycho family's farm... whatever the fuck it was called escapes me but Frontier(s) killed it anyways.
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  #62  
Old 09-06-2010, 03:30 PM
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Finally brought myself to watch this film and Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

Can't say I "enjoyed" it, or even "liked" it... In fact, I found myself crying at the very end of it. The fact is, I just don't have the stomach for exploitative, violent, and torture movies, even if there is an "end" to the bloody means. It makes me feel sad, violated, helpless and hopeless.

But as the Madame says in the film, It's so easy to create a victim...

In that regard, the movie is successful. Hell, not just in that regard - It's successful in a myriad of ways:

Brilliant first half of the movie that keeps the tension high that you can barely pause to catch your breath - Fantastic suspense, tension, and emotion.

As MM says, the movie could have ended there for me too. In fact, there were quite a few places mid-film where I thought to myself, "Wow. The movie must be almost over. What a fantastic fucking film. I can't wait to go on Facebook and HDC and gush about this... But it's so short!! Oh, wait - It's not ending... Where can they possibly go from here??

So to its credit, it does answer the proverbial question, Where can they go from here? by completely defying expectations (I thought for the first 45 minutes that all the talk about "torture porn" - heh hehe Ferox - was going to turn out to be a bunch of malarky... BOY WAS I WRONG) and COMPLETELY catching me off-guard (despite this movie being out for quite some time!! I was STILL taken off-guard!! Just like... A VICTIM).

And the rest of the movie was executed with cruel, cold, calculating precision, absolutely horrifying and stabbing at me with every scene.

To say that it took me to a depth of misery that I have never experienced before with a film is an understatement. At the end, I wept at the blackness - At the hopelessness - At the fact that I had just exposed myself AND the boyfriend to a film that I KNEW would make us uncomfortable. But, oh, "uncomfortable" is a bit of an understatement...

But here's the thing about Martyrs: It's smart. Like, wicked smaht. It's not just abuse for the sake of depravity - It actually had a message driven into the sadism - And the "message," while some have said that it was preachy and over-the-top, I found really, really interesting. That made the movie a bit more palatable than your average exploitation flick.

But ultimately, I think that the movie's mission, in part, is to make victims of its viewers - To torture them as they do poor, beautiful Anna.

So.

Does Martyrs belong in TotalFilm's 25 Most Disturbing Films Ever? Yes.

Does Martyrs live up to the cult hype and praise? Absolutely.

Is it fair for someone to say Martyrs sucked? God, no.

Will I ever watch Martyrs again? Fuck no.



I'm going to go eat some chocolate, curl up with my Bear and hug myself until this feeling of unhappiness goes away...
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  #63  
Old 09-07-2010, 10:23 AM
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Originally Posted by ChronoGrl View Post
But here's the thing about Martyrs: It's smart. Like, wicked smaht. It's not just abuse for the sake of depravity - It actually had a message driven into the sadism - And the "message," while some have said that it was preachy and over-the-top, I found really, really interesting. That made the movie a bit more palatable than your average exploitation flick.

Is it fair for someone to say Martyrs sucked? God, no.
Out of curiosity, just what did you think the "wicked smaht" message was in Martyrs? I ask because I found that the plotline felt weak and was basically a poorly thought out excuse for a quintessential torture porn flick and nothing more. For that reason I do say that Martyrs sucked. It had the potential to not suck. It could have been a supremely disturbing movie (that's not to say it's not disturbing of course), but the vehicle for the violence just does not work at all if you know what a martyr actually is. Maybe there's another way to look at this movie that I'm just not seeing.
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  #64  
Old 09-07-2010, 11:09 AM
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Originally Posted by siorai View Post
Out of curiosity, just what did you think the "wicked smaht" message was in Martyrs? I ask because I found that the plotline felt weak and was basically a poorly thought out excuse for a quintessential torture porn flick and nothing more. For that reason I do say that Martyrs sucked. It had the potential to not suck. It could have been a supremely disturbing movie (that's not to say it's not disturbing of course), but the vehicle for the violence just does not work at all if you know what a martyr actually is. Maybe there's another way to look at this movie that I'm just not seeing.
+1

Different strokes and all, but it really didn't work for me.
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Old 09-07-2010, 11:23 AM
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The first half was fucking insane. The atmosphere and intensity had me at the edge of my seat, and scared to be there! If it ended there it wouldve been great. Instead it took an absolute dive bomb into dread and helplessness. A bit too much torture porn IMO. If they spent more time on WHY they were doing that and less time beating the shit out of the poor girl i think it might have been more widley accepted by audiences. That being said ive never felt more like a victim at the end of a movie so in that sense i really enjoyed it, but I still think the reasoning behind the torture couldve been more in depth.
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  #66  
Old 09-07-2010, 11:25 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by siorai View Post
Out of curiosity, just what did you think the "wicked smaht" message was in Martyrs? I ask because I found that the plotline felt weak and was basically a poorly thought out excuse for a quintessential torture porn flick and nothing more. For that reason I do say that Martyrs sucked. It had the potential to not suck. It could have been a supremely disturbing movie (that's not to say it's not disturbing of course), but the vehicle for the violence just does not work at all if you know what a martyr actually is. Maybe there's another way to look at this movie that I'm just not seeing.
Well questions for you: What is your definition of "martyr," how does it differ from that of the film, and why does it destroy the plotline for you?

...

I really liked (well I'm not sure if "liked" is the right word) the concept of creating Martyrs. I found it incredibly eerie and disturbing.

I think that the question you bring up is really Does the end justify the means? I'm honestly not sure, but mostly because I honestly detest torture flicks - Just can't watch 'em. But, regardless, I thought that the premise was interesting (I use the term "interesting" carefully here because I can't necessarily say, "WOW THE PLOT WAS AWESOME WHAT A REVEAL" - I just thought that it was a different way to show the horrors of the religious zealot). There's more going on here than just a torture movie - You have this concept of literally manufacturing martyrs - Something that we see today with suicide bombers and the like... And the ultimate message? There is no Redemption for those who create martyrdom.


That, to me, made the movie "smarter" (or smahter if you're from Boston) than the average torture flick.



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Originally Posted by fuglystick View Post
+1

Different strokes and all, but it really didn't work for me.
Which "it" are you referring to? The plot (e.g. Creating Martyrs), the movie in general, or both?

It's interesting to see how people are responding to the "reveal" - I found it interesting, but it seems here that people are finding it contrived.
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  #67  
Old 09-07-2010, 11:36 AM
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Originally Posted by ChronoGrl View Post

Which "it" are you referring to? The plot (e.g. Creating Martyrs), the movie in general, or both?

It's interesting to see how people are responding to the "reveal" - I found it interesting, but it seems here that people are finding it contrived.
"Creating martyrs" would have worked, if the film had earned it. In my opinion, the premise and execution was flimsy. That's just my opinion; if it worked for others that's fine.
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  #68  
Old 09-07-2010, 11:45 AM
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"Creating martyrs" would have worked, if the film had earned it. In my opinion, the premise and execution was flimsy. That's just my opinion; if it worked for others that's fine.
I can understand what you're saying... When we were introduced to the Madam who had her exposition-laden speech about 'Martyrs,' I honestly thought that that scene and the movie going forward were going to turn out to be some kind of hallucination constructed by Anna. I thought that it was really silly and unbelievable at first...

It's definitely the concept that did it for me (well, that "interested" me at least)... I looked beyond the execution because the torture aspect made me so damn uncomfortable (which is of course the point).
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  #69  
Old 09-08-2010, 08:51 AM
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Well questions for you: What is your definition of "martyr," how does it differ from that of the film, and why does it destroy the plotline for you?
A martyr is someone who dies for a cause they believe in, typically a religious cause, but not necessarily so. Which is the same definition the movie uses in regards to the martyrs referenced throughout history, but has absolutely no bearing on the girls.

The girls in the movie were not martyrs. They were victims. They did not believe in what they were being killed for. They did not want to see the edge of other side to gain knowledge and insight beyond the normal human experience. They simply wanted to die. They wanted the incessant physical and mental torture to end. The only way the plotline would have actually worked would have been for the members of the secret society to be the ones undergoing the torture and subsequent death. But then who would care? Torture porn works only if the person being tortured is unwilling. They have to be a victim in order to increase the tension as well as give the viewer some reason to actually sympathize with what's going on, making the torture that much more disturbing and visceral.

To me, Martyrs is a very powerful, disturbing film that had so much potential, but ultimately fell flat due to a lack of forethought by the writers.
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