Fantastic Fest 2008

A unique and fun experience, and a good way to close the festival. I do wonder where all the non-badgeholders came from, though. Were badge-holders denied access in favor of non badge-holders? I hope not.

While never leaving the land of "cheesy kid's movie," I did appreciate the strong commentary on the practicality and sustainability of communism and/or other statist societal concepts.

This is one hell of a messed up movie. It zigs and zags several times, which could have made it a disjointed mess, but the filmmakers deftly prevented that from happening by resolving conflicting plot elements before introducing too many more. Martyrs is not played humorously or light at any point, and thus it feels quite effectively dark and burdensome. One particular scene, about two thirds in, is marked by uncommon brutality. This scene begins and ends effectively, but plays too long and degenerates into a sick level of sadism beyond what the point of the scene was meant to expose. Many will turn it off or leave at this point, but if you endure beyond that scene and suspend your disbelief just a little bit more, the end is interesting and unexpected.