It is difficult to review Martyrs without comparing it to Pascal Laugier’s phenomenal 2008 film of the same name. So let’s just get this out of the way: Kevin and Michael Goetz’s (Scenic Route) remake is a watered-down version of the original that is nowhere near as visceral, affecting or memorable. Martyrs 2016 is 10-15 minutes shorter than Martyrs 2008. At a mere 86 minutes, the film feels rushed in many places and doesn’t take some of the necessary beats that the original did in order to deliver a real sucker punch.
Where Laugier’s film was bleak and open-ended, The Goetz Brothers’ remake is more hopeful and features a less ambiguous conclusion. Martyrs 2008 was poignant. Martyrs 2016 is cathartic. The original was less a film and more an experience. The remake is “just” a film. With that out of the way, let’s focus on what the remake gets right. Taken on it’s own (or if you have never seen the original film), Martyrs 2016 is a passable thriller with an emotional core at its center that will still satisfy some viewers.
When Lucy (Ever Prishkulnik) escapes from a group of people who have been torturing her, she is sent to a Catholic orphanage where she befriends Anna (Elyse Cole). Over the years, the two girls become best friends as Lucy deals with the psychological ramifications resulting from her time spent in captivity. 10 years later, a now grown Lucy (Troian Bellisario, a far cry from her role on Pretty Little Liars) believes she has found the people responsible for her torture and she means to make them pay, with or without Anna (Bailey Noble, True Blood).
Plot-wise, the first act sticks pretty closely to the original, matching it scene-for-scene. It is at the end of the first act that screenwriter Mark L. Smith (Vacancy, and co-writer of The Revenant) takes the film in a completely new direction. It is this aspect of the film that is admirable. Knowing that he would be unable to replicate the genius of Laugier’s film, Smith has opted to look at the philosophical approach from a different angle, and while it may not be completely successful, you’ve got to give him credit for trying something different.
In the interest of keeping the film fresh for viewers who have never seen the original (are there horror fans out there who haven’t seen the original?), I won’t delve too much more into the plot. Just be aware that the second half of the film is quite different from the second half of the original.
One smart decision was casting TV starlets Bellisario and Noble in the lead roles. These two actresses have proven themselves on the small screen (Bellisario more so than Noble, but I digress) and they each do commendable jobs in Martyrs. Bellisario delves into the mind of an unhinged character with aplomb and Noble plays the skeptical friend to great effect. Kate Burton (playing a somewhat more malicious version of her Scandal counterpart) shows up later in the film and brings the necessary amount of menace to the proceedings.
The film’s limited budget becomes apparent in its numerous attempts at CGI. Those moments are few and far between, but when CGI effects rear their ugly head, they are not good. Since the film is far less violent than the original film, there aren’t many opportunities for practical effects. That being said, the few practical effects in the film are well done (and don’t worry, a certain flaying is still featured, albeit not as extensively).
As mentioned earlier, fans of the original may be put off by the toned-down violence. This is understandable, and it does hurt the film in some ways, since the violence was so iconic in the 2008 version. Though the violence in the original never felt gratuitous. It was always serving the story. That is not always the case with Martyrs 2016.
Martyrs, surprisingly, isn’t a complete misfire. It is bold enough to go in a different direction than the original, though it certainly doesn’t best that film. While it may not completely succeed in everything it attempts to do, it’s still enough of a different beast to merit a rental.
