New Horror Releases: Martyrs Lane (2021) - Reviewed




Many children have imaginary friends growing up.  Sometimes used to combat loneliness or escape the real world, these companions serve their purpose and fade into a distant memory as the child matures.  But what if these “imaginary” friends were real and didn’t have the child’s best intentions in mind?


In Martyrs Lane, we see this idea explored through the story of Leah (Kiera Thompson), a 10-year-old girl living in a vicary with her parents and older sister.  One day when Leah ventures into the woods, she comes across a girl wearing a pair of crooked angel wings (Sienna Sayer).  The “angel girl” begins to pay her nightly visits at her window and they have unusual conversations together, often hinting about the location of an item that will shed light upon some mystery in Leah’s life.  Slowly but surely through this visitor, Leah learns about a family tragedy and is forced to come to terms with the concept of death for the first time in her young life.

 

Strong performances from both of these young girls complement the atmospheric Martyrs Lane nicely.  The story is told through Leah’s perspective, and even when she is taking a backseat to what is happening around her, Kiera Thompson makes herself an enduring presence.  This is partially due to how often she is shot in closeup, but it helps that she knows how to embrace the subtleties and quiet moments.  While this ghost story has minimal horror elements, the scenes between her and her strange companion talking are some of the more unsettling moments of the film.

 

What stands out most about Martyrs Lane is its exploration of family secrets and grief through the eyes of a young child.  Leah knows something is wrong with her family, but can’t understand what.  Her mother sleeps with a locket of hair and has a short temper during the day, and her father is a minister who is kind-hearted but mostly absent from her life.  This causes Leah to mostly fend for herself and figure out life on her own — but oftentimes, what she learns is uncomfortable. 

The fact that Leah’s life is surrounded by religion adds texture to her experience.  There’s always this sense that something larger than her is amiss, but rather than bring her comfort, it overwhelms.  After she meets the “angel girl,” this feeling eventually becomes stifling.  As the concept of an afterlife becomes progressively clearer to her, she tumbles down a dark rabbithole of lucidity mixed with fear, and it completely encapsulates how being a child inundated with heavy subject matters feels.  


While these are interesting concepts to explore, there’s simply not enough substance to hold this slow-burn film together.  The narrative is a little too simple, and all of the big reveals are immediately predictable for anyone who’s seen a film like this, making the entire experience lackluster.  The gradual progression of Leah and “angel girl”’s relationship is intriguing, but not nearly enough to support this film’s 96-minute running time.  Writer and director Ruth Platt created a short film of the same name in 2019 before it received funding to become a feature-length film, and it should have stayed there; the happenings in this 2021 iteration seem too stretched out.

 

Martyrs Lane has plenty of ambiance and some compelling ideas buried inside the slow pacing, but horror fans watching this on Shudder will likely be sorely disappointed.  If you favor mood over mayhem and don’t mind a thriller that feels more like a family drama, you might find some enjoyment from it.  Otherwise, steer clear of this one.

 

--Andrea Riley