A terrified girl runs into the streets, clad in tattered underwear. Subjected to brutal torture at the hands of strangers, the psychologically-traumatized Lucie can open herself only to Anna, another girl of her own age. Ten years later, the now-adult pair plots revenge against the people who made Lucie’s life a nightmare. Pascal LAUGIER’s Martyrs demonstrates the best of French horror, now enjoying a magnificent rebirth with an onslaught of acclaimed works from a new generation of filmmakers armed with passion and talent. The visual violence characteristic of gore films reaches a textbook sophistication here that compels the audience to avert their eyes throughout. But the truly dizzying terror begins once the bloody mutilation ends. The new phase of vengeance opened by a surprising twist after the film’s midpoint goes beyond the cruelty of physical violation. The total destruction of a person’s mind and body—can such a thing be justified in the name of civilization and faith? Martyrs posits a philosophical problem—that the justification of violence is more terrifying than violence itself—and provides its own answer. But final judgment on that answer is left up to the audience. Whether one agrees or disagrees, one is still left with a thoroughly disgusted feeling at the movie’s end. (Jin PARK)