foutainoflife
I thought this was a decent movie. The story was there. The suspense was there. The girls played their parts well and it held my interest. There wasn't as much blood and gore as I expected. This was a good stand alone movie. I plan on watching the original. I watched this one first because it seemed like most folks think it pales in comparison to the original and I wanted to take an unbiased look to see if it could stand alone. It did for me and I would recommend it to a friend. Give it a chance.
jtindahouse
I recently saw the original 'Martyrs' and absolutely loved it. That French film from 2008 was very close to a horror masterpiece. It was original, disturbing and clever. An absolutely marvelous film. So of course the Americans were going to have a go at remaking it - I'm just surprised it took them so long. Now, there are a number of reasons you might remake a film. You could think there were areas that could have been improved on in an otherwise good film, or you might simply want more people to see such a wonderful story. Whatever your reason is for doing it though, one thing is absolutely crucial - you must maintain the quality. Otherwise you are doing a massive disservice to the original and tarnishing its name. Sadly, that's exactly what the 2015 version of 'Martyrs' has done.The first 3/4 of the film remain extremely similar to the original, almost feeling like a shot-for-shot remake at times. During this phase the movie isn't actually half bad. The same intensity isn't quite there and the acting is step down, but it could be considered a passable film up to that point. Then the final 1/4 begins and it all starts to unravel. This was always going to be the segment that determined how good this film was going to be, because it was the segment that made the original what it was. Everything that made the original ending great was basically removed and replaced with inferior ideas. I would've preferred to see zero creativity used and simply a shot-for-shot, word-for-word remake created, simply because people who see this instead of the original are going to get a bad taste in their mouth, when they should have exactly the opposite.This remake of 'Martyrs' never dares to be great, and that it why it isn't. Whether they were afraid American audiences wouldn't be able to handle the gruesome violence and ambiguity of the original I'm not sure, but if that was the case it makes zero sense because the only people who are going to see a film like this are the ones that can handle it. It's a terrible shame this movie was ever made. If it's not too late and you haven't seen either version yet, I implore you to choose the French original. It'll be the wisest decision you ever make.
MattyGibbs
A remake of a perceived classic will always be on a hiding to nothing and this is definitely the case here. I'm pretty sure that if this was an original film it wouldn't be rated so lowly. Saying that I'm not entirely convinced there was a need for a remake of it. Whilst not as brutal and bleak as the original movie ( is this necessarily a bad thing)this is still an unnerving and difficult film to watch. If you haven't seen the original then this is likely to have much more of an impact on you. For a film rated 4.0 I was expecting a poorly made and badly acted film which this really isn't with both the two leads are both convincing. This does lack the overall tension of the original and the ending is nowhere near as well done which does bring the film down a bit. This is worth watching if you haven't seen the original but it isn't on the same playing field as the French version
Fatabelly
I started to watch this version of Martyrs, without actually expecting any greatness. I had already seen the original version, and knew that any remake would probably be very poor. To be honest, this version isn't too bad in its own right as a horror flick, and Troian Bellisarios acting did surprise me somewhat. She played a pretty good part considering she's only really used to Pretty Little Liars. But alas, the original kinda blows this version out of the park. As the story barely mirrors the original, both in content and delivery. And I'd say most of the actual horror scenes or incidents are completely different too. If you do want to watch it then please watch the original first... You'll be glad you did.
AD
