Two words that will be applied with great regularity to Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs: torture porn. The torture part is certainly correct, this is a film loaded with scenes of graphic and unflinching violence. But the porn? No, not at all. There’s not a frame of this film designed to titillate, never are you encouraged to ride a vicarious wave of adrenaline. No, Laugier’s got something else entirely in mind, something audacious enough and executed with such a high degree of confidence that Martyrs is the film that is going to rise above the ‘extreme’ crowd to become a lasting touchstone. Unfortunately it’s also a film that’s rather hard to write about without spilling key plot points.

Here’s what you need to know. We begin with Lucie, a young girl who escapes an extended period of captivity and abuse. She is taken to a hospital where it is confirmed that she was not sexually assaulted but as far as what actually did happen, Lucie is the only one who knows but she’s not telling anyone – not even Anna, the girl who befriends and cares for Lucie in the hospital.

Jump forward fifteen years. A seemingly perfect family is sitting down for Sunday breakfast when the doorbell rings and in bursts Lucie, wielding a shotgun. Lucie is one seriously damaged individual, driven by equal parts fury and fear, covered with scars from her abuse during captivity and later self abuse, and certain to the core of her being that mom and dad were her captors. Lucie is out for blood, Anna still present as an unwilling accomplice, still trying to care for her friend.

Now, if this were a typical revenge / torture film then this is basically where the story would end but Laugier has something else entirely in mind. Yes, he uses an exploitative premise to get you hooked but then quickly layers in one of the most stunningly effective depictions of severe mental illness ever caught on film to let you know that there’s something more going on here before pulling the rug out entirely and taking you someplace totally unexpected. And where that is I’m not saying.

Martyrs is very clearly not a film for everybody. If you have a weak stomach you should stay far, far away. It is, however, one of those very rare films that absolutely deserves the waves of hype that have built up around it both for the way it provokes an audience and for taking familiar elements and shaping them into something very different and far more substantial than has been accomplished in the past. Martyrs could very well be an instant classic.