Many Nerd Shirts have come and gone over the past couple of years in the shop. Some better than others. Some more memorable than others. And some that capture a certain movie from the genre we love more than the rest. Well, I am happy to say the newest NERD SHIRT made by the fine team of Dave and Brian represent one of the most “in your face” genre films the videostore has rented and sold more times than I can count.
In the mid 2000s the french horror movie genre was taking fans by storm with such titles as High Tension, Calvaire, Inside, and Frontie(r)s. But if there was one film that drove home the point that Fench Extreme cinema was here to stay it would given to us in 2008 with Pascdel Laugier’s MARTYRS. Personally I will never forget the excitement of getting the first wave of this movie into the shop. After reading so much about it I was nervous, excited, and ready. This was not a movie you simply sat to enjoy. You sat to experience it.
What separates Martyrs from a lot of the so called “torture porn” flicks of it’s time is, and this is just my opinion, the graphic gore and torture serve a purpose to the actual story and wasn’t just there to shock you. It never felt like classic exploitation like many of it’s American counterparts did at the time. No, Martyrs intentionally was trying to take you through an emotional hell asking you to keep watching to see the overall purpose of where it would end up.
Part mystery, part hostage, part gorefest, and a splash of religious undertone Martyrs was a movie that challenged it’s audience and wanted them to feel things maybe they had not felt from a movie in a long time. This was not some low budget trash B-Movie with shit acting to pad the special FX and flimsy plot line. No, this movie literally felt like two storylines in one. A film that half way through I looked at my DVD player which read 42 minutes in and got me asking “Now what?”. The equivalent of a movie hitting a deadend on the road when suddenly a secret passage opens up and the ride continues on in a whole new direction. And that second half is where true uncomfort kicks in.
Many movies in the last 12 years have tried to recapture that feeling but few have succeeded. MARTYRS had left it’s mark in the horror genre and with it’s fans and to make us remember the impact of this film. For good or bad the boys have made these LIMITED EDITION two sided shirts to pay tribute.
Not to be confused with the watered down god awful American remake which missed the entire purpose of the original film to challenge the audience this shirt is meant to bring back the memories of seeing the original film for the first time.
So during these dark times why not hit up the THE LOBBY DVD SHOP and pick up the shirt that pays tribute to one of the more dark and raw slices of cinema to come out in the last 20 years.
This movie is important. These shirts are important. Atleast to genre fans. And remember they LIMITED EDITIONS. So as always stay safe and stay nerdy!
