I understand that the existence of this film really burns some of you up. A lot of genre veterans fail to see the point of an English-language adaptation of one of the most thought provoking films in horror history. Not only was the original an excellent film, but it came out of France. And us horror nerds can get a little snooty about foreign horror – myself included. So what is the point?

Well, an overwhelming (and baffling) number of people simply refuse to read subtitles when watching films. We’ve held polls on twitter, and the results were pretty clear. It’s surprising, I know. But maybe it wasn’t so surprising for the team behind the Martyrs remake. Maybe they knew that was the case and felt that this was a story that deserved to be seen and heard by as many people as possible. Honestly, I don’t think their wrong for believing that. I’ve now seen the remake, but I didn’t think it was quite fair for me to review it – for many reasons. That’s why we have opted for Spencer White, the one Modern Horrors staffer that hasn’t seen the original, to provide an uncolored assessment of the 2016 version.

That assessment will be coming in the very near future, but while you wait, have a look at the debut trailer for the “re-imagining” of Martyrs below. The film is set to hit limited theaters on January 22nd and home video/VOD on February 2nd.

Plot Synopsis
Ten-year-old Lucie flees from the isolated warehouse where she has been held prisoner. Deeply traumatized, she is plagued by awful night terrors at the orphanage that takes her in. Her only comfort comes from Anna, a girl her own age. Nearly a decade later and still haunted by demons, Lucie finally tracks down the family that tortured her. As she and Anna move closer to the agonizing truth, they find themselves trapped in a nightmare – if they cannot escape, a martyr’s fate awaits them…

Martyrs poster 2016