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Martyrs - Preview

Martyrs

Preview by Jack Foley

TOTAL Film magazine has said of French horror shocker Martyrs that it “might be one of the most brutal films ever seen”.

Directed by Pascal Laugier and starring Mylene Jampanoi and Morjana Alaoui , the film is sure to be one of the biggest talking points of the forthcoming FrightFest horror festival when it plays in London on August 24.

It has already shocked the Cannes Film Festival where, according to Total Film, many viewers “staggered” out even before its horrifying finale.

The organisers of FrightFest credit Laugier’s film as being an “esoteric development of an everyday tabloid headline into a blood-freezing nightmare underworld”.

It’s “a disturbing uncompromising work of extreme violence and challenging ideas” that tells the spine-tingling tale of the twisted revenge taken by a psychologically devastated girl on a family she’s convinced kept her captive for years.

But as her best friend finds out beyond all human suffering, the truth is a more complex exploration of the true meaning of martyrdom.

The FrightFest website adds that Martyrs is “a viscerally audacious, ballsy piece of brilliant filmmaking” that offers an “astounding blend of the surreal, excessive, repulsive and the totally unpredictable”.

It concludes by hailing the film as “absolutely 2008’s most unforgettable and controversial horror experience”.

In spite of its controversial violence, the film was largely well received by those who survived it at Cannes – but it landed in further hot water with the French censors, who awarded it an 18+ certificate, meaning that it’s deemed unsuitable for children under 18 or forbidden in cinemas for under 18s.

The producers have subsequently appealed, while the French Society of Film Directors (SRF) has asked the Ministry of Culture to re-examine its decision, stating that “this is the first time a French genre film has been threatened with such a rating”.

They have been backed by the Union of Film Journalists, who claim the rating is a form of censorship.

As yet, no release date has been confirmed for the film in the UK, so FrightFest offers an ideal chance to find out whether you can endure it.

Find out more about FrightFest