Holy smokes, it’s time for a movie review. I haven’t done one of these in a while, and wouldn’t you know it, that remake of a horror movie I really liked is out.
Before I begin, I'd like to point out that the cover for this article is not from the remake of the movie I'm about to review. Instead, it is from the original version. You'll see why I made the switch.
Back in October, I wrote an article about my favorite horror films that really step out of the constant flow of clichéd crap America claims to call “horror.” One of those films was a French horror called “Martyrs.” In order to cope with the eeriness and disturbing images, I had to watch "My Neighbor Totoro" to cleanse my palate a bit.
As my usual pessimistic self, I was disgusted when I heard the news that “Martyrs” would be “Americanized.” Any time we take something overseas that’s really good, it ends up bad.
In “Martyrs” situation…eh. (That's the poster for the Americanized version, by the way.)
The story of “Martyrs” focuses Anna, an orphan who befriends a girl with a traumatic past named Lucy. Despite the night terrors and hallucinations, Anna can’t help but question if Lucy is telling the truth. Ten years later, Lucy goes on a murder spree, targeting a family, claiming they were her tormentors. Now, Anna must fall further down the rabbit hole and learn what happened to Lucy and why.
Like every remake, there tends to be differences in areas that the story focuses on. In the original version, the story focuses more on the torment Anna and Lucy are put through. In the Americanized version, the story can’t take its eyes off the innocent, almost romanticized friendship between Anna and Lucy. Their bond is such a big picture that the film doesn’t retain the graphic nature of the original. It stops being a horror and devolves into a suspenseful drama with blood in it.
I do appreciate how most of the story is pulled from the original, but the Americanized version takes out some parts that makes the original memorable. What made me so uncomfortable about the original were the torture scenes. This is sub-classified as a “torture porn” horror. Therefore, the film forces the viewer to sit through extensive scenes showing torture. And sit, I did. And cringe. And squint. And squirm. A bit. I saw repeated beatings, cutting, choking, vomiting, and Anna gets skinned alive!
Americanized “Martyrs” cuts back on that. We see Anna go through electrocution, a few strikes to the head, and the filet scene has been toned down to Lucy getting her back cut off. Still graphic and enough to make me cringe, yes, but we aren’t subjected to it all because an escape plan with guns kept cutting in.
Speaking of a change in content, America, we just can’t get one movie where there is a bad ending. Not. One. I won’t give away the ending to the original “Martyrs,” but I will give away the ending to Americanized “Martyrs.” Anna shoots up the place and forces the bad guys to release the dying Lucy. Lucy whispers something, causes a couple of suicides, and finally bleeds out as the cops arrive to arrest the bad guys. Anna lies next to Lucy until she bleeds out and a flashback of the two as kids is shown.
Just saying, American films need to quit making sappy endings, especially in horror movies. The original “Martyrs” is not as light. Americanized “Martyrs” is just shy of being like the original. In comparison, the Americanized version is incredibly tame and didn’t make me cringe as much. It favors a more sympathetic tone instead of going for the original’s gruesome imagery. It doesn’t ruin the original too much, but it’s enough to sort of stand on its own... I don’t say that with much confidence.
That being said, the Americanized “Martyrs” earns three human fillets out of five.
The reason I love this story so much is that it uses religion in a way I have yet to see in a horror movie. It doesn't use religion as an excuse for a monster's origin. Instead, it uses the mystery of the afterlife as the haunting cherry on top of the already bloody sundae. It left me pondering what happens after we die. What did Lucy/Anna say that made the suicides happen? "Martyrs" didn't just frighten me; it made me think. It made me ask myself something about life. And that shows the kind of power movies have in this world.
So, please, watch the original instead.
