Martyrs
aka Iskence odasi
2008
99 minutes

French horror/gore movie, “Martyrs” delievers on all levels; gore, storyline, interest and pure thrills. I suggest that you don’t go into this movie trying to figure out the ending, just sit back and let it unfold for you.

Dubbed “One Of The Most Ferocious Horror Films Ever Made,” by FearNet.com, you will not be disapointed.

“Martyrs” stars  Morjana Alaoui and Mylène Jampanoï as two young French women on a journey of revenge on those who abused and tormented them as children which leads them into a world of hell, torutre and depravity.

This is a movie that keeps you going till the end and when you think it’s over, BAM it keeps going. “Martyrs” does this well and tends not to have that “will it ever end?” feel to it, which is hard to pull off.

This has to be one of my top gore/horror films and I highly recommend this to anyone wanting to explore foreign cinema with an edge of terror.

I Spit On Your Grave
Aka Day of the Woman
22 November 1978
101 min

Originally released under title “Day of the Woman”, it received very little and did poorly at the box office, so the title was changed in 1981 and was re-released and was recieved greater acclaim.

In this savage rape revenge story, audiences are somewhat lured into a false sense of security as they are introduced to mild and meek author Jennifer Hills, played by actress Camille Keaton [who won the Best Actress award at the Catalonian International Film Festival for this film], vacationing in a small town in hopes to finish off her debut novel…but all goes sour when a local group of neanderthal like men catch her scent.

Raping her repeatetly and brutally, savagely beating character Jennifer, these are the scenes that had people exiting cinemas and a many kudos to director and writer Meir Zarchi for acheiving such a reaction.

When audiences are introduced to each rape or revenge scene, there is an air of forboding before the incidents begin, suspense and for most, gut wrenching, sickening terror. Something the remake, under the same name, severely lacks.
Each revenge scene feels like a victory, “They got theirs!” And as an audience you can feel that satisfaction.

But this reviewers favoured scene  hands down is the castration scene, I will leave it at that for those who are yet to see this film, but it was a great scene and shows us that after such a horrible attack, these men had forgotten about her, really driving home the feeling we are given that tells us Jennifer is just a piece of meat and treated so.

Zarchi states he was inspired to create this movie after he himself helped a young woman after she had been raped and soon afterwards the woman’s father wrote him a letter of thanks for helping his daughter.

Fun fact, “I Spit On Your Grave” was passed uncut in Australia until December 1997. It was banned from December 1997 until June 2004.

Give this movie a go if you have a stronger than normal stomach.

Okay, okay so I know I am late reviewing medically accurate and tummy turning movie “The Human Centipede: First Sequence”, but hey!

“The Sun, UK” quotes “Is this the sickest film ever made?”

“MTV” says “Nearly impossible to stop talking about after the credits roll.”

“Potentially this film could scar you for life,” shouts CNN.

“It’s disgusting, perverse and ultimately unshakable,” The Austin Chronicle cries.

Winner of three festival awards, Tom Sixx’s “The Human Centipede: First Sequence” has sicked audiences and left them reeling in their seats reaching for their sick bag or security blanket.

Starring Dieter Laser as the cold, sterile Dr Heiter, Sixx’s idea comes to life and almost lives up to its raves and reviews.

We see two young American women, on their European Vacation become victim to Heiters crazed medical mind, and this is where people begin to become queasy as this fresh concept plays out in scenes of depravity, 100% medically correct surgial procession and pure character terror.

But for this girl, that’s where the creeping feeling of anxiety and excitment ends as it seems. Past the well executed acting of Laser teamed with some well done visual sets, this movie seems to shy away from the boundaries that could have been pushed.

Here we have a relatively new idea, something that hasn’t already been done to death, that really doesn’t have any “movie rules” to follow and yet there appears to be something holding it back, maybe this was intentional of Tom Sixx, luring us in, making us want more and putting the foot down before we wet our pants. Saving the best for the sequel? So don’t get too comfortable just yet.

We are walked through this picture scene by scene down a pool of insanity, craving, succession and the ultimate downfall, leaving us with a sense of questioning. It leaves viewers desperate to know more, to want the sequel.

Well done though to Tom Sixx for doing his research and earning the tag of “100% medically correct” by contacting a real surgeon for the medical human centipede design. This, I suppose, is what put people on edge, a factual, totally possible torturous surgery.

All in all, this movie wasn’t 100% horrific, but not on the boring side. So if you’re up for some sterile depravity that isn’t smutted with Hollywood notions, I suggest to check this movie out!