Martyrs *****

Martyrs is a French horror that will literally shock you to the extreme. It's graphic, intense, brutal and extremely scary - Everything you want a horror film to be. And the fact it's in another language takes you out of your comfort zone even more.

Based around two young girls, one (Mylene Jampanoi who plays 'Lucie') of which was captured as a child and abused in a dungeon, the other (Morjana Alaoui who plays 'Anna') who suffered child abuse, trying to find their revenge on the people who caught Lucie.

The turn of events in this film is amazing and totally unexpected. You're taken through twists and turns throughout, and never given a moment to rest from the very beginning. The fact this film looks dirty makes it even harder to bear, especially through scenes of personal torture. We're given close-ups of pretty realistic looking apparatus attached to somewhere, reaction shots to multiple gunshots, and very real looking makeup.

It's done amazingly well but almost too sickening. Leugier who directed this film told Cannes Festival in 2008 that the script was rejected by a lot of French production companies purely for the violent and sadistic messages this film produces. But it's definitely become quite a cult for horror lovers. It embodies the elements that this genre is all about, and takes it somewhere you can't quite believe.

It brings the idea of schitzophrenia, self-harming, torment and cruelty to another level. You're giving the full picture of any murder and harm which is in itself shocking. The two girls act perfectly in their roles they are given, and it ends on an unsettling tone. It's so wrong, yet you can't bring yourself to turn away from the screen - No matter how much of a cushion you're hiding behind.

To any horror lover out there - This is perfect.