An interesting film that you think is going one way and then switches it up at the end.

Martyrs Lane follows a family whose youngest daughter, Leah, is visited by an unexpected guest every night. We see that Leah‘s mother is very distant from the family and with this unexpected guest Leah starts to unravel why this might be and I didn’t expect it to go where it did.

This movie is definitely slow. It’s not that long, about an hour and a half, yet it does drag in some places and while I think the payoff was worth the wait I do wish in some parts it did get to where it was going a bit quicker. I’m not that interested in a slow burn and I also don’t see this film as a horror film…it’s not all that horrific, more unnerving.

What I have to say though is the actor of Leah, who is meant to be playing a 10-year-old, is absolutely incredible. She is a really convincing actress at such a young age and it really made the whole film seem realistic and kept me entertained. When it comes to child actors sometimes they can be a bit underwhelming, this is not the case with this film, she is a fantastic actress and I bet she’s got a great future ahead of her if she continues to pursue acting.

If you like slow burn thrillers that have a twist and follow one story line that slowly gets unravelled as you watch then you may quite enjoy this. For me it’s not a movie that I would rush back to watch any time soon but I did enjoy it while I watched it. But I definitely feel with it being on Shudder there could definitely be more horror elements to it, especially as that was what I was hoping for and I was a little disappointed, but that is more on me and my own ideas of the film from the premise and not from actually watching it.

Martyrs Lane comes to Shudder on Thursday, September 9th and I definitely recommend giving it a least one watch, especially if you’re into slow burn thrillers that aren’t all that they appear to be. It’s something different that I haven’t really seen before and despite the downfalls of me not fitting into the right target audience I still think it’s a good film that brings something new to the thriller genre.

If you see Martyrs Lane let me know what you think.

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding