Martyrs Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

Martyrs Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 29, 2009

French director Pascal Laugier's utterly disturbing "Martyrs" (2008) is very unlikely to get a North American Blu-ray treatment. British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment, however, have put together a strong package that will undoubtedly please English-speaking horror fans residing in Region-B territories. Please be advised that the film contains disturbing footage that is not appropriate for minors!

Martyrs isn't for the meek.

A severely traumatized girl, Lucie (Mylène Jampanoï), who has been missing for well over a year, is discovered by the French police. She is in stable condition, but unwilling to talk about her captors. The few bits of information the police are able to extract from her reveal that she has been tortured at an unknown location. A lucky break then helps the police identify the location where Lucie was held captive -- in an abandoned industrial building with a sophisticated torture chamber -- but, for some unspecified reason, the case is dropped.

Fifteen years later. Lucie rings the doorbell of a lavish suburban house. A man appears, and Lucie immediately blows him apart with her rifle. Then, she proceeds to kill the man’s wife, teenage daughter, and teenage son. Not too long after that, Lucie’s best friend, Anna (Morjana Alaoui), appears, too. She attempts to clean up the mess, but something very unusual happens.

Pascal Laugier gathered plenty of attention with Martyrs. Because Martyrs was initially scarred with the French equivalent of our NC-17, and then, after much publicized support from several top French critics and film directors, promptly rerated, it earned significantly more publicity than its creators had hoped for. The controversy also helped Martyrs in foreign markets, where many people went to see it precisely because of it.

But this controversy was not unjustified. (For what it's worth, it was also not part of a smart publicity campaign). Martyrs is, as some of the people who defended its initial rating have claimed, a genuinely disturbing genre film. It is an intelligent genre film, too, which is a quality that makes it even more disturbing. So, if the original rating was an honest attempt to make this clear to potential viewers, and it appears to have been, then it is very easy to argue that it was entirely justified.

Three key shifts reset the narrative and transform Martyrs into a unique genre film. The first shift occurs early, after Lucie kills each member of the suburban family, and crucial clues about what is to come next begin emerging. If these clues are correctly identified, predicting where Martyrs would go is not all that difficult.

The second shift occurs after the torture chamber is revealed. This is where Martyrs abruptly evolves into a skin-crawling endurance test that justifies its initial harsh rating. The material from the endurance test is carefully conceived and very effectively shot to leave deep mental scars.

The third and final shift occurs approximately twenty minutes before the finale. Here, Martyrs engages the mind in a way a 'serious' film would, and, after a few more curveballs, moves into a territory that conventional genre films, and especially horror films, avoid. It is what makes it a borderline controversial film.

Many years ago, I attended a theatrical screening of Peter Hyams’ Outland, a futuristic action thriller about an ambitious police marshal who confronts a group of drug smugglers on Io, Jupiter’s innermost moon. Halfway through Outland, one of the drug smugglers is detained. He is given a special suit with a hose attached to an oxygen tank and thrown into a vacuum chamber that functions as a prison cell. Later, someone unplugs the hose, and the man in the suit explodes. Hayms’ camera gets close enough to show what is left of him, a mish-mash of scattered soft pieces of human flesh, and then zooms away. This sequence caught me off guard and, without my approval, my mind instantly stored it somewhere. Then, for years, my mind refused to discard it.

Martyrs, in its entirety, is now stored somewhere in my mind, too. It caught me unprepared, just as that graphic sequence from Outland did a long time ago, and it genuinely terrified me. It really did. However, while viewing Martyrs is a very intense experience, it did not terrify me because of what Laugier's camera shows. It is how it justifies it that did the trick. It makes the disturbing look utterly real.

Martyrs Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with VC-1 and granted a 1080p transfer, Pascal Laugier's Martyrs arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment.

I liked this high-definition transfer a lot. From what I could tell, it is an exact replica of the one used by Wild Side Video for the French release of Martyrs. Contrast is strong, detail pleasing and edge-enhancement not an issue of concern. Given the delicate lighting during a number of key scenes, as well as the hand-held camera movement, occasionally, the transfer reveals a softer look (this is, however, how Martyrs was filmed). Furthermore, I did not detect any severe examples of noise reduction. For the most part, Martyrs looks very convincing and certainly better than the DVD the Weinstein Company currently has in circulation in North America. Finally, the high-definition transfer looks notably healthy – there are absolutely no scratches, debris, or flecks to report in this review. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Martyrs Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 5.1. I opted for the French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and later on did a few random comparisons with the Drench Dolby Digital 5.1 track for the purpose of this review.

Even though there isn't a whole lot of activity in the rear channels, the French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is clearly superior to the French Dolby Digital 5.1 track. There is substantially more depth and clarity on it than there is on the French Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The gunshots, for example, are incredibly punchy and crisp. Furthermore, the dialogue is crystal clear and very easy to follow. The haunting soundtrack by Alex Cortés and Willie Cortés is also well balanced with the dialogue. I also did not detect any disturbing dropouts, pops, cracks, or hissings to report in this review. For the record, Optimum Home Entertainment have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

Martyrs Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Please note that the following supplemental features are in standard-def PAL. Therefore, you need to have a Blu-ray player that converts PAL-NTSC, or a multi-system TV set, in order to access them.

The Making Of - this documentary offers an in-depth look at the conception and production of Martyrs. Included in it are clips from interviews with Pascal Laugier and cast members, as well as raw footage from the production process. In French, with English subtitles. (86 min).

Pascal Laugier Interview - in this program, Pascal Laugier reveals what inspired him to shoot Martyrs and comements on its development. In French, with English subtitles. (20 min).

Benoit Lestang Interview - in this archival program, special effects and make-up artist Benoit Lestang discusses his contribution to Martyrs and interactions with Pascal Laugier. In French, with English subtitles. (15 min). (14 min).

Martyrs Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Simply put, Pascal Laugier's Martyrs is unlike anything I have ever seen. If you decide to see it, I strongly recommend that you read as much as possible about it, so you know exactly what you are getting into. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed looks and sounds great. If you could play Region-B discs, go for it, you won't be disappointed. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.