Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The Original Spice Girl I wish I could review this movie without comparing with the original, but I don't see how I could do that. As often is the case when Americans attempt to remake movies from other countries, they fail. Such is certainly the case here. Although the directors tried to make the excuse that they was re- imagining rather than remaking, they obviously failed to understand what made the french original so extraordinary. There is no depth to the characters in this version. The directors fail to make me feel for the protagonists. In fact they fail to make me feel anything at all. The long and cruel journey of the protagonist is completely lost.I don't see the point in the use of excessive violence or gore for the sake of chock in movies. The original version of Martyrs was gory and violent but it was not included for the chock value. The explicit cruelty had meaning, to make the audience understand the suffering of the main character and the amazing ending. This version is more of a family friendly action movie in comparison, and in reducing the most of the violence and cruelty, the movie completely loses the impact of the original. Even more annoying is the assumption that Americans are stupid and need everything explained in detail. Whereas the original made me think and feel and not forget, this version did not affect me at all, and in the moment of writing I'm already forgetting it. Had I not seen the original I probably would not say it's not a terrible movie, just bland. But having seen the French masterpiece, this version certainly is terrible in comparison.So to summarize: If you want to see a good movie, watch the French 2008 original! And if you have already seen that, then watch it again instead of this mess.

Jean Frederick This will be hard to explain. First of all. If you are that guy or girl who hates remake, stop watching them and reviewing them. If you can't separate the 2 movies then why are you even wasting your time.OK. Now to explain how, in my opinion, this movie is better and worst than the original.On the plus side, the movie looks better and is easier to fallow. I am french but the original have the actor mumbling so much it is hard to fallow. The first half of the movie is very much the same as the original. They give a little more of Anna and Lucy as kids becoming friends witch, to me, was not better or worst from the original. Some key moments are almost shot by shot. The second half of the movie, on the other hand, has the same premise and reason but taken from a very different way of doing it. It is less gory and much less brutal. I like it. The original was good but at some point it becomes just pointless torture that could be abbreviated.On the down side, the director played it a little too safe. To start with the kids. The first shot in the original, the little girl Lucy, looks like she was torture. On the remake, she only has a bruise on her cheek. If a kid is torture then you need to show it to make us feel bad. The ending is also played safe. To start, if you switch it from Anna to Lucy then give a reason why they didn't come back for Lucy at any point in the last 10 years. I like the fact that they took the face punching out of this one but they should of finished the same way or closer to the original.If you have not seen the original then you will like this. If not, I can see it going both way. I like it better but would improve by using a few more things from the original. I guess if you like films that are more nihilistic than the original is better.Both worth to watch. I would recommend the remake as much as the original.

Steven Norris The original Martyrs is a masterpiece of horror. It transcends its own genre and is an unforgettable film, even over a decade later. The remake is a piece of crap.What made the original so great (atmosphere, score, acting, the sense of hopelessness) is gone, replaced with reality TV-level acting, endless exposition, pointless scenes and zero scares. Do not watch the remake of Martyrs. Watch the original and pretend this one does not exist. There was simply no reason for this to be made.*Spoiler, but who cares the movie is crap*I especially despise how they twisted the ending into a typical American-style revenge with everyone winning at the end. In the original, people die and the film has weight. Here, it's a bloody shootout with clichéd lines as if the film thinks it's a goddamn Commando sequel.I hated this so much.

christinapichler Being a huge fan of the French 2008 movie "Martyrs", I had strong doubts about the quality and necessity of a remake. Still I tried to push all those negative feelings aside and give the movie a fair shot. Like the original, it starts out when the young girl Lucy escapes from a terrible situation unknown to the viewer. She lands in an orphanage where she meets her best friend Anna while being haunted from the past. Ten years later, Lucy kills a family claiming they are her former capturers. One aspect I love about the French version is, it basically consists of two stories with the turnaround in the middle of the movie. The remake adapts the first half of the film more or less faithfully though clearly worse than the original and the second half deviates completely from it. With those drastic changes it feels more like one consisting story rather than two. They tried to create a new story instead of copying the French movie shot for shot and the attempt of doing so I appreciate about it. Still the second part fells illogical and is a mess. For me it does not work and felt even cheesy sometimes. The acting is not exceptional but also not terrible. It has some beautifully shot scenes but there is some shaky cam in it which is bothering. Furthermore the movie is a lot less violent and gory which basically is okay but leads to some illogical moments in the second half. Also there are some genuinely boring moments considering the short running time and overall it is a lot less emotional than Pascal Laugier's Martyrs. Especially an aspect from Lucy's struggle with the past is left unresolved and you care a lot less about her. Over all, I think someone who has not seen the French version or does not like extremely brutal movies can watch this toned down version and might actually enjoy it for its story. Fans of the New French Extremity masterpiece should stay away from the remake and everybody else I clearly advise to check out the former one!