I forgot to mention the Catholic sensibilities of this movie. It reminded me of The Exorcist, but not about a confrontation between good & evil, but about the realization of being trapped in a doomed world, with the only possible escape being to an undiscovered country that may not even exist.

I don't often recommend brutal movies, but this one deserves a watch. Just as with "The Passion of the Christ," gird your loins. Prepare for what you are about to see. But as with Mel Gibson's magnum opus, Martyrs deserves to be seen once. (I lost track of the numbering...hey, it's 1:45 AM! 😁)

Martyrs' ending reminds me of the forgotten 1983 Christopher Walken movie, Brainstorm. Both deal with the afterlife at their conclusion. Brainstorm provides a hopeful answer. Martyrs is more grim, somewhere between dread and unfathomability, if that makes sense. That is why it is so haunting.

As for that enigmatic ending, that is up to each person. Personally, I believe Anna saw something because not only does the movie give us a glimpse via her PoV, but what she sees is reflected in her eyes, i.e., it is not a mental hallucination. There is SOMETHING after this life. But what? /9 (/8?)

That message stays with you. It is the movie's clear intent. Without garish post-apoc set design, the movie's dour presentation signals it frame by frame, like "The Road' but without the overt imagery. The cult is the rich & powerful who know the end is near and are trying to find an escape. /9

Pascal Laugier said, "The Western world is sick.... Martyrs...shows a dying world, almost like a pre-apocalypse. It’s a world where evil triumphed a long time ago, where consciences have died out under the reign of money and where people spend their time hurting one another." /7

Martyrs was all too chillingly real in light of the recent international scandal revealed by the Epstein documents, where rich and powerful men & women formed a cult around a truly evil man to serve their own selfish interests. It is real life imitating fiction. /6

The movie cleverly tricks the audience by having the plot at first seem familiarly cliched, but then takes some unexpected twists that keep you watching. But it is the ending, one that involves a cult of the rich and powerful seeking the afterlife, that makes the movie unforgettable. /5 (? 😁)

Director Pascal Laugier wrote this script while suffering from deep depression, something that can be felt during the movie's entire runtime. A deep sense of nihilism pervades. As someone going through a period of depression myself, I could feel it at an emotional level. /4

Rather, it forces the viewer to think about some very unpleasant topics, particularly suffering, the inescapability of guilt, and the afterlife. It is the latter topic that makes the movie so haunting in its final moments. It takes earthly horror and elevates it to supernatural import. /3

To dismiss this movie as torture porn is to do it a disservice. There is intelligence to this movie, one that elevates it above its more lurid aspects. That is what makes it so disturbing. It can't be dismissed as a mere gore-fest. /2

It has now become the header image for my latest blog post. robotjazz.blogspot.com/2025/11/day-...

I always wanted to play a game like The Sims, but in space. In other words, a game that focuses on the day-to-day life of the people who live in that setting. I think that would be a lot of fun to play, especially if my "Sims" could travel to other planets/space stations to pursue jobs, etc.