Martin

The unbalanced teenager Martin Mathias (John Amplas) travels to Braddock, Pennsylvania, by train. During the night, he breaks in a cabin and kills a passenger in a peculiar way, injecting drug with a syringe and draining her blood to drink in a careful way. Then he meets his old cousin Tateh Cuda (Lincoln Maazel) in the station and they go to Cuda's home where Martin will live. Martin was raised by his dysfunctional mother and believes that he is an 84 year-old vampire. The religious Cuda also believes that the teenager is Nosferatu and uses crosses and garlic in the house to protect himself and his granddaughter Christina (Christine Forrest) that lives with him from Martin. Along the days, Martin befriends Christina, who has a problematic relationship with her boyfriend Arthur (Tom Savini), while continues to attack persons every now and then. Further, he uses the telephone to tell the truth about vampires to a radio show. Martin has a love affair with Christina, but when she commits suicide, Cuda does not believe that his granddaughter killed herself.

"Martin" is a strange and bizarre low-budget vampire movie with a totally different story. There is a documentary on the DVD where George Romero gives details about the production that uses real locations. He also tells that "Martin" is his masterpiece. Martin's daydreams with black-and-white are ambiguous and the viewer never knows whether whey we recollections or his imagination. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Martin"

Night of the Living Dead(1968) and Dawn of the Dead(1978) are the director's famous films and most beloved by leigons of horror fans around the globe. However, in this writer's humble opinion Martin(1977) is the best film the director has done in his career for a couple of good reasons. At the forefront is a complex protagonist who is a sexually confused young man that believes he's a vampire. Also, the acting and the direction are low key and sombre. Finally, the ways that the director plays againsts the cliches atributed to vampires which makes this film a pleasure to observe. Martin behaves in the manners of a vampire because its what society expects of him. So if Cuda believes his nephew is a vampire then according to Martin it must be true. Uses a first person voice over narrative that's in the same vein as Hatchet for the Honeymoon(1969), and Maniac(1980).

An early film Tom Savini worked on before he became famous among the horror community. The makeup effects are very good for a film of its budget. Opening moment in train may have been inspired by the opening sequence in Hatchet for the Honeymoon(1969). Covers sexual frustration and confusion with more human depth than a previous Romero film called Season of the Witch(1975). The black and white flashback sequences I feel were part of an alternate story in order to compare past and present. After all, the director did do a 3 Hour black and white version which unfortuately was stolen from him(thus, the black and white scenes are leftovers of a different film). I would love to see the 3 hour version come to frutiation because of the added depth new scenes might give to character and story. Martin(1977) is an underrated horror classic of the 1970s that is a change of fresh air because its not with the usual vampire elements.

George A. Romero will always be associated with his innovative and spectacular zombie trilogy ('Night Of The Living Dead', 'Dawn Of The Dead' and 'Day Of The Dead', all classics). Dig deeper and you will find he has made several less discussed but worthy movies, including this one, quite possibly the best movie he has ever made.

'Martin' manages to be both a disturbing psychological drama and a genuine horror movie at the same time. It is complex and mult-layered enough to be read in more than one way. It's up to you, the viewer, to decide whether Martin (John Amplas, in an impressive debut) really is the vampire he claims to be or is simply deluded. It's a pity that this movie slips through the cracks. Hard core horror nuts often undervalue it because it isn't what they expect from the genre, and movie buffs who can appreciate downbeat 70s classics like Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver', and Toback's 'Fingers', will dismiss it as "just another horror movie", not realizing just how much it has in common with the aforementioned. Too bad. 'Martin' is a real gem, and highly recommended. I think it's absolutely brilliant, and a classic.

This is a very interesting vampire story by George A. Romero. Storytelling is completely different from the Living Dead series of the same director in which there are several different stories about the daily life of Martin that are blended so nicely with each other. Director cleverly uses some filming techniques like black-and-white flashback sequences, close-up shots and nice background musics which remind of French movies. It is a little slow-paced but the ending is impressive.

Sometimes it seems to me that the "users" who comment on movies here go out of their way to miss the point. The horror storyline here isn't just "vampire nonsense" nor does Romero succeed in spite of his "lowbrow intentions." The film IS a horror film, as successful in "revising" the typical vampire films as other 1970's classics like McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Point Black were in "revising" the western and gangster genres respectively. The film would hardly be as interesting if it were some kind of slick production with the usual trappings. Instead Martin is a low-key intense underplayed film that reverses the usual expectations without rejecting its genre.

I don't think Romero is somehow upholding the ideals of faith either; the religious zealot, Martin's uncle, is the least sympathetic figure in the movie, though he may be right in thinking that Martin is "nosferatu." Or his fanaticism may have created the delusion in Martin's mind, an attempt to reject the religious dogma by adopting its traditional/mythic opponent. In any case, Romero's take on faith is very complex and is as interesting in this film as his complex take on individuality and consumerism is in Dawn of the Dead.

Romero makes great use of the depressed area of Braddock Pennsylvania, the kind of down on its luck, conservative, fading neighborhood I know from my own experience. The setting is essential to the movie, but Romero doesn't overplay it. The radio talk-show angle isn't as well handled but it is interesting.

I thought this film was very impressive in its deadpan update of the vampire story and Martin is a strangely moving character. Ultimately the movie is a much more convincing dramatization of the "serial killer" figure than we get in most films now, despite the current fascination with that type. (P.S. Romero was so good in the 1970s..how did he fall to the likes of Creepshow?)