Title: Martyrs
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Director: Kevin and Michael Goetz
Writer: Mark L. Smith
Cast: Troian Bellisario, Bailey Noble, Kate Burton
Running Time: 81 min
Rated: Unrated (Torture, Gore, Bloody Violence, Language)
IN THEATERS & DIGITAL HD: January 22, 2016

An independent “re-imagining” of the 2008 French film. Lucie escapes chains in a vacant building; bruised and battered. When the police arrive, her captives have cleaned the place of clues. Without a family to go home to, she is placed in a catholic orphanage. There she meets Anna, another orphan girl and they become fast friends. Cut to 10 years later and Lucie (Troian Bellisario, Pretty Little Liars) shows up at a family of four’s secluded ranch home and murders them all. She calls up Anna (Bailey Noble, True Blood) and tells her she found her abusers.  At first Anna is horrified at what her childhood friend has done, and tries to calm Lucie down until she can find a way to call the police. After witnessing Lucie fighting off some imaginary attacker, Anna forces Lucie to rest while she occupies herself around the house. She discovers a secret room leading to the basement, where she comes to the hard realization that her friend’s monsters were not all in her head.

The Good: The pacing was good; I was interested throughout the film. I didn’t even look at my phone if that’s an indication that I didn’t lose focus.

The Bad: Let’s watch several women get stabbed, burned and tortured for about an hour. Sounds like a good time to me. Martyrs is like watching The Pain Olympics with better cinematography and lighting.  They didn’t do enough backstory on Anna’s character. She may have been an abused kid, but why does she latch onto the mind-f—ed Lucie?

I never saw the original French film, but I hear this version was not as gorrific and somewhat toned down. This version was pretty disturbing on its own, and I feel a little bit apprehensive watching the original, though I am curious to see what kind of stuff they held back.

Acting: B
Story:  B
Technical:  B

Total Rating:  B
Reviewed by: JM Willis