Martyrs (Blu-ray / DVD)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Troian Bellesario, Bailey Noble, Caitlin Carmichael
Directed by Kevin Goetz, Michael Goetz
I’ll be the first to give credit when it’s applicably due: Take a solid, well-constructed film and pay homage to it with a mirrored presentation, and you’ve got something to behold (in the eyes of the masses, that is). However, there are some who will remain loyal to the original, no matter how strongly crafted the new model may appear to be. In the case of the Goetz brothers’ remake of the 2008 French shocker Martyrs, we’re not necessarily eyeballing anything new here, and unless you’re a die-hard fan of the 8-year-old prototype, one could certainly argue the point with: “Was there REALLY a need for a remake?”
When Pascal Laugier unleashed his brutal, unforgiving look at retribution gone horribly awry a few years back, horror audiences were shocked and generally pleased (some, I should say), and the visuals alone were enough to strike a chord in any aficionado’s heart – it was vivid, unrelenting, and engaging to those who love simple brutality with their storyline. Enter 2016, and the remake is set to be tossed into the laps of viewers who will, in turn, have the ultimate say about whether or not this modified rendition will be worth its weight – only time will tell.
Holding down the fort in this particular version are Troian Bellesario as the tortured Lucie and Bailey Noble as her friend Anna, and for all intents and purposes, the two worked very well here, with Bellesario shedding her ABC Family persona on “Pretty Little Liars” to play a damaged woman who will stop at nothing to lay waste to those who inflicted so much pain and suffering upon her in her younger years. Now while I love to lay down the details with a certain amount of heaviness, in order to protect the minutiae contained within, I’ll leave the specifics out in the cold, but I can tell you that this remake doesn’t exactly follow the same path as its predecessor.
While violent in spurts, it looks as if the Goetz brothers opted for a bit of a more marketable display, rather than the bone-jarring barbarism most will remember from the original, and that in and of itself could force many fans to shed their skin (pun intended) of this recasting and opt to never leave the side of the antecedent. Even characters who held more prominent footholds in the French version looked to be watered down and lost in translation, leaving the focal point upon the two female leads. Yet, something just appeared “off” in their interaction with one another. For two characters who are supposed to be leaning heavily upon each other, at times there looked to be a stranger’s wall between them.
Overall, I can recommend Martyrs as a one-time watch, mainly to those who would care to compare and contrast to the primary, but after the credits roll on this one, I’m sure the multitude will choose to keep the initial movie tightly packed in their DVD stacks.
Special Features:
- First Look Featurette
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Film
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Special Features
Categorized:Reviews
