Today we are very excited to share with you our exclusive one-on-one interview with Pascal Laugier, the writer-director behind the French horror masterpiece Martyrs (review), which will arrive sometime in the next year from Dimension Extreme. The film tells the story a girl who emerges from a yearlong abduction and forms a bond with another girl while in recovery. Click the link above or below for the interview and watch for more soon.
It is highly important to put things into context; France is simply not a country where directors are usually allowed to explore the Horror genre. I am from France and regrettably unable to name one decent horror movie ever made in France in the 80's or 90's! The reason is simple: Production companies have always been against the idea of producing horror movies. What makes new horror films like “Frontière(s)” completely different is a strong sense of social realism (i.e. the extreme violence shown on screen as a metaphor for today’s twisted societies, cults and other religious fanatics), as well as the fact that they address a number of social issues, including intensified racial tensions, the emergence of neo-fascist movements in Europe, or even the recent rapes of young women in public transportation. Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy “Martyrs”; it will scare the shit out of you! Yes, I said you.
The release for "Martyrs" in France has been delayed twice, the last time being around June 16. My concern is that the movie is currently getting an "X" rating, which is kind of tricky; this rating is normally associated with "adult movies". My assumption is that the French Censorship Board is trying, once again, to delay the national release. Since 2000, the same problem occured with the release of Despentes' "Baise Moi" (which was banned after one day only) and "Saw III" - an extremely rare situation in a libertarian country like France. Hopefully we can expect a release by the end of July or the beginning of August.
Yesterday I saw this movie on a german film festival and it is really shocking. The main problem is already described by the director in the given interview. Don't expect too much and keep your forecasts on a normal level and you'll see one hell of a movie. It's definitely not as bloody as "Inside", but the shown violence and tortures will leave nobody cold. Everything is shown in a very realistic way and this is the true cruelty of the movie. The more I think about this film, the more I like it.
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