By JOEL HARLEY
Echo On Publications head honcho Christian Francis knows how to hit a guy right in the favourites. First, it was with his novelizations of the Maniac Cop trilogy, adapting the most underrated slasher series on the beat. Then he released The Descent (via Titan Books), which did the same for my most beloved horror film of the last two decades.
Francis returns with MARTYRS, a novelization of the first work of French Extreme Cinema I ever saw. I recently rewatched the film when it was re-released in 4k last year, so it was fresh on my mind when I received an ARC of this book. Suffice it to say, I approached with much trepidation. About once a decade is enough where this particular tale is concerned.
Based on the screenplay by Pascal Laugier, it’s a faithful adaptation of the story, opening after 10-year-old Lucie Jurin’s escape from her traumatic captivity in a disused slaughterhouse. Transferred to a children’s rehabilitation centre, she meets Anna Assaoui, with whom she quickly strikes up a close friendship. Years later, Lucie remains haunted by her experience at the hands (and fists) of her mysterious tormentors. Happening upon a vital clue in her search for those responsible, Lucie arrives at a peaceful family home in a seemingly idyllic French neighbourhood.
What unfolds there will already be deeply etched into the psyche of anyone who’s experienced MARTYRS. But this time it’ll turn out differently… right?
“You lock a living thing in the dark, away from the daylight… and they begin to suffer. Then you feed that suffering. Methodically, systematically, coldly. Building it up more each day. And you keep it constant. A break in the constant undoes all work. All hope must die.”
We hope that this time, what Lucie does will be enough to satisfy the ghosts in her head, that Anna will just nope the fuck out of there once her friend’s bloody vengeance is complete. Or that she’ll find a way to fight back and escape her captivity. That, at least, there’ll be some sense of closure as the credits roll – or the book closes, as it were.
As the story plays out with tragic inevitability, so hope dies. Francis’ version fills in some gaps in Lucie and Anna’s past, but it’s otherwise unflinchingly faithful. If there’s a mercy, it’s that the reader’s mind’s eye might be less effective at translating some of the more harrowing imagery. Still, a few punches are pulled, particularly in the second half, where the author largely skims over Anna’s ordeal. Nobody wants several chapters beating up on poor Anna some more (just go read Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door), but one would have hoped to see the book take its time to break her down more gradually. What the film does in montage, the book does in mere paragraphs. It’s a harrowing read, but there’s little psychological insight – no fresh dimension nor rationalisation for Laugier’s excessive use of violence.
Speaking of insight, readers will be on tenterhooks waiting to see how Francis tackles the book’s ending. Does he pull back the veil to make clear what Laugier left deliberately obtuse? I’m not spoiling anything, but coming in at less than 200 pages, readers won’t have to wait long to find out.
MARTYRS is an ambitious novelization of one of the most challenging stories ever told. It holds nothing back. However, I wish there were a little more weight behind its blows.
MARTYRS from Echo On Publications is available for purchase on April 30t.
