"You haven't been rude at all, especially considering how strong my own words were"
Well thank you for responding maturely also. I was a little worried because your original reply was a little intimidating.
"I didn't watch the film at all; I was just horrified by the sick gore I read about in it"
This is a problem. Since you haven't seen the film, you don't know that the supposedly-graphic skinning scene is only implied off-screen. We do LATER see Anna without skin, yet she isn't shown to be writhing in agony or anything. You also don't realise that this film doesn't focus on the gore, as the skinning scene is less than a minute long and does not include any unpleasant sound effects. However, torture-porn films do this, in order to emphasise the disgust of the gore. Martyrs however, features little gore overall.
Anyway, my point here is, isn't it a bit weird to judge the film like this when you haven't seen it? Then again, I wouldn't recommend you go and watch it, as your attitudes toward disturbing films suggest you'd hate it and wouldn't be able to see past the violence.
"How many do you know show people being flayed, of all things?"
Again, there was little gore in this film. Consider films such as the last few Saw movies even. THEY have more gore than Martyrs. Hostel II showed a live woman being hung up-side-down whilst another woman cut her back to bathe in her blood, as well as various other scenes of pointless sick gore scenarios. Then there's movies like A Serbian Film or The Human Centipede II. Although I haven't seen the former, I know that both movies rely purely on abbhorrency and shock in order to create disgust. Martyrs however, is disturbing mainly because of the themes portrayed. Those who find it disturbing always cite the sequence in which Anna is kept in the basement as the most disturbing part of the film. This sequence has no gore and the only form of violence we see are beatings. This part of the film was also so, so saddenning to me. Hence the director didn't create an unpleasant film that relies on shock and disgust, as Martyrs focuses on mental suffering more than physical pain.
"There ARE films that go way too far and violence/disturbing content do not determine a good film alone. Sometimes they do just the opposite."
I never said that violence/disturbing content alone determine whether a film is good and would never say that because it's absurd. And indeed, often those things do achieve the opposite effect. However, whether you like it or not, horror films will always be violent. You possibly need to extend your boundaries a little bit. And yes, people are getting numb to violence, but they're not going to go on a masscare and turn into psychopaths because of a film.
Sorry to go on so much too. I always want to cover a lot of things.
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