A Descent That Finds Grace in Despair

Read Time:5 Minute, 31 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Martyrs
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Genre: Horror, Psychological, Extreme
Year Released: 2008, Eureka Entertainment 4K 2025
Runtime: 1h 39m
Director(s): Pascal Laugier
Writer(s): Pascal Laugier
Cast: Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï, Catherine Bégin, Robert Toupin, Patricia Tulasne, Juliette Gosselin, Xavier Dolan, Jessie Pham, Erika Scott, Jean-Marie Moncelet
Where to Watch: available from October 27, 2025. Order your copy here: www.eurekavideo.co.uk

RAVING REVIEW: There are horror films that aim to frighten, disturb, or repulse — and then there’s MARTYRS. Pascal Laugier’s 2008 film doesn’t just cross the line; it redraws it entirely. Newly restored in 4K by Eureka Entertainment’s Masters of Cinema series, the film remains as devastating and divisive as it was at release. It’s the kind of experience that doesn’t feel like watching a movie so much as enduring one. But in that endurance lies its genius. Laugier created something few filmmakers attempt: a story where violence is not spectacle, but a form of spiritual confrontation. It’s horror as philosophy, and philosophy as punishment.

At its core, MARTYRS is a film about trauma’s permanence. It begins as an act of revenge — direct, almost feral — and slowly evolves into a meditation on transcendence through pain. Laugier captures the agony without indulgence; the brutality is clinical, methodical, and strangely reverent. For all its reputation as one of the defining works of the “New French Extremity,” what lingers isn’t the gore, but the conviction. Every act of cruelty in MARTYRS has purpose—every wound matters.

Mylène Jampanoï and Morjana Alaoui carry that burden. Their performances are so raw that they nearly redefine what acting looks like under duress. Jampanoï begins the film driven by a righteous fury — a woman haunted by memories that may not even be real. Alaoui’s performance, quieter and more introspective, anchors the second half. Where Jampanoï’s torment is explosive, Alaoui’s is transformative. By the time the final act unfolds, it’s not fear that grips you, but a kind of mournful awe. Alaoui becomes a conduit for Laugier’s central question: can enlightenment exist in a world built on suffering?

The answer, like the film itself, is ambiguous. MARTYRS refuses to moralize or justify its horror. It’s not interested in catharsis or redemption. Instead, it offers a void — a space where belief and brutality become indistinguishable. Catherine Bégin’s performance as the figure behind the torment is devoid of malice, almost serene. That calmness is what makes her terrifying. She believes she’s serving a higher truth, and Laugier directs her with the same conviction, forcing the audience to sit in their discomfort without relief.

The film’s design supports that emotional assault. The environments are stark and pragmatic — industrial spaces, sterile rooms, and dimly lit corridors where empathy seems to have evaporated. The absence of style is its own aesthetic choice. There’s no glamor in this world, no indulgence in horror tropes. The violence is stripped of cinematic flourish, forcing the viewer to confront its consequence rather than its choreography.

Laugier’s storytelling approach has often been misinterpreted as nihilistic, but there’s a strange kind of reverence running through every frame. The film doesn’t celebrate pain; it questions why humanity sanctifies it. It’s not about torture, but about the human capacity to assign meaning to it. Where something like INSIDE or HIGH TENSION delivers pure chaos, MARTYRS demands that we look at why chaos exists at all — why people will break others, or themselves, in pursuit of belief.

It’s less a horror film than a dissection of faith itself. Laugier builds his narrative like a sermon on the cruelty of transcendence. The word “martyr” becomes literal and philosophical at once — not someone who dies for belief, but someone who’s reshaped by pain until they transcend it. That concept is horrifying precisely because it feels both impossible and familiar. Humanity’s long history of sanctifying suffering is mirrored in every frame.

The new restoration gives the film a new texture without softening its impact. The images are clearer, but no less unbearable. In Dolby Vision, the bruises, shadows, and skin tones take on unnerving realism — a reminder that this isn’t fantasy. Eureka’s treatment feels appropriately reverent, acknowledging the film’s importance to modern horror while preserving its ugliness.

If there’s a criticism to make, it’s that Laugier’s conviction can border on suffocating. The film’s final act dares the audience to endure a prolonged sequence of degradation that feels endless. But that’s the point. Whether you accept that transformation or reject it outright depends on how much faith you’re willing to bring into the experience. MARTYRS remains one of the few horror films that can be both loathed and loved with equal passion. It’s uncompromising to a fault, demanding emotional and moral surrender. For those who meet it on its terms, the reward isn’t entertainment — it’s revelation. For everyone else, it’s an ordeal best left untouched. Either way, it changes you. Few films can claim that.

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[photo courtesy of EUREKA ENTERTAINMENT]

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