Phil's Horror Watch, Day 13, Phil watches MARTYRS (2008)-October 13, 2011

Hey folks! My horror movie marathon continues with Day Thirteen! I decided to stay in France for one more day to watch another of the country's most disturbing horror films of all time. With MARTYRS, the French offer up another modern European horror classic that will be talked about for years to come!

French Theatrical poster (2008)

The film's about two young girls named Lucie (Mylene Jampanoi) and Anna (Morjana Alaoui). In the beginning of the film, we are told via a flashback that Lucie escaped from a disused abattoir where she has been imprisoned and physically abused for a lengthy period of time. No signs of sexual abuse are identified, and the perpetrators and their motivations remain a mystery. Lucie is placed in an orphanage, where she is befriended by a young girl named Anna. Lucie vows to Anna that she will one day exact painful vengeance on her captors.

Fast forward fifteen years later and we see Lucie and Anna still together and Lucie thinks she has located two of her initial captors via a picture in a newspaper. With Anna warily in tow, Lucie pays a visit to the couples home with a loaded shotgun. She hopes by exacting some revenge that she will be exorcising a creature that plagues her, a creature in the form of a girl she left behind at the slaughterhouse and who takes delight in cutting Lucie to shreds at any opportune moment. But, in the end, it is Anna, not Lucie, who learns the truth of the girl as well as the real secret behind Lucie's captors and their terrifying mission.

The film is an extraordinary example of how we watch a horror film, but it examines what makes it horror. For starters, the subject matter is one of the true horrors that people wished it didn't exist: child abuse. Now while the film exposes Lucie as a test subject for her captor's experiments, the bottom line of it all was that Lucie was abused, and came from an abused home, thus her mental abuse haunted her till it was frothing for retaliation. Juvenile delinquency has been an issue for years, but has anyone really paid attention to the plight of the children? We create the environment for these kids, and as a result, a poor upbringing leads to an unhappy child. Child abuse is caused by many different reasons: lack of loving and caring parents, happy childhood, violence, drugs, drinking, bullying, physical and sexual abuse, lack of attention, and so forth. With Lucie, it was a variety of reasons that culminated with her committing murder to silence her inner demons. However, as the film progresses, sometimes those demons can be passed on. In this case, it was passed on to Anna, who by the end of the film, suffered the fate that was destined to be Lucie's.

The film was directed by Pascal Laugier, who also wrote the screenplay. The film was categorized as a new example of new French horror films; much like HIGH TENSION, FRONTIER(S), and INSIDE with regards to the level of violence it depicts. Laugier has said that he is in the middle of negotiations to have the film remade in America. The remake will be directed by Daniel Stamm (THE LAST EXORCISM) and the screenplay will be written by Mark Smith (VACANCY). The film was released by Canal Horizons in France on September 3, 2008. It was released on DVD by the Weinstein Company in April of 2009.

MARTYRS is harrowing, thought-provoking, brutal horror film that fans have been enjoying since the films release. For those who have weak stomachs may want to skip this film. But for those who are brave enough to sit through this film for the grotesque and enlightening 99 minutes, you will have seen one of the most original horror films in years!

MARTYRS is currently available on DVD. To purchase a copy, visit your local retailer or visit the Amazon website at www.amazon.com

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!

Phil's Horror Watch, Day 12: Phil watches INSIDE (2007)-October 12, 2011

Welcome back my friends to Day Twelve of my horror movie marathon. For the last couple of blogs I have been in Italy, visiting my good friend Lucio Fulcio. Now I've made my way to France where, since 2003, has been the home for some of the most original and the most shocking and gruesome images of horror that has been seen since the 1980's. Tonight's film INSIDE is just one of the many horror films that France (of all places) has been releasing onto unexpected audiences worldwide.

Original French Theatrical Poster (2007)

The film starts with a car accident that kills pregnant Sarah’s (Alysson Paradis) husband but she survives as well as her unborn baby. Four months later, she’s going home alone for the last night she has to herself before she is admitted into the hospital to deliver. That night, she is terrorized by a seemingly psychotic woman (Beatrice Dalle) who, wielding a pair of scissors, has a burning desire to cut the baby out of Sarah’s stomach and keep it for herself.

The opening of the film is important to how the rest plays out, and in the beginning we see that Sarah is just completely miserable. She’s outwardly rude to people and keeps only to herself, even shutting out her mother (Nathalie Roussel). She thinks so much about her husband that it is very clear to the audience that this baby is the last thing she wants. If she has the baby, it’s very possible that she will never be able to move on from what happened to her husband and be quite miserable all her life. Sympathy is sparked more towards the baby than it is towards its mother. Because of this, there is already an unconscious desire in the audience for the baby to end up with whomever will love it the most. Of course there is a feeling of sympathy for Sarah as well, because otherwise the film would stop being interesting right then and there. Because she is so miserable, there is another unconscious desire for her to move on from her tragedy and find something that can be fulfilling for her.

The mysterious woman is never known by any name other than “La Femme,” and is rather terrifying, but in a different way from any other movie villain. She’s not really trying to hurt Sarah, but she does want that baby and she will do anything to get it. She is almost completely un-sadistic. It’s her determination that makes her so frightening. She’s not doing this for fun; she really has a motive (which is revealed toward the end of the film). Another thing that really makes the audience sympathize with her is that she doesn’t always win. She gets stabbed and burned and kicked around and, at one point, nearly arrested. Making La Femme sympathetic is where this film crosses the line from mediocre horror to near-masterpiece. With this film, first-time directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury made a powerful explosion into the horror genre.

INSIDE is a powerful, emotional, tour de force horror film that prays on your emotions while simultaneously satisfies the bloodlust in all diehard fans of the genre. While it seems somewhat unbelievable, the French have demonstrated once again that they are a country that should no longer be made fun of. In fact, after watching the film again, we should be very scared of them.

INSIDE is currently available uncut on DVD. To purchase a copy for yourself, visit your local retailer of visit the Amazon website at www.amazon.com

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!