Pascal Laugier directed the original, which was both a critical and cult success in Europe.
Martyrs focused on Lucie and Anna, orphans who establish a friendship, until one of them inexplicably goes on a murderous rampage to avenge what may or may not have been earlier incidents of child abuse.
Here’s what Stamm himself had to say about his interpretation of Martyrs:
“Martyrs is very nihilistic […] The American approach [that I’m looking at] would go through all that darkness but then give a glimmer of hope. You don’t have to shoot yourself when it’s over.”
He went on:
“Every time you think you know where it’s going, it goes somewhere else. It plays on things that are familiar — like two friends who can’t be separated, kind of a Forrest Gump and Jenny situation. But then it takes a turn, and in doing so asks interesting questions. ‘If you have a best friend in the world and she goes crazy, how much do you owe this friend to go down with them?’ It’s much more than a horror film.”
The English-language remake is being produced by Wyck Godfrey (Twilight).
LA Times reported this one.
