Martin

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.

You don't see anyone make a film like this anymore. Shot on 16mm but absolutely gorgeous looking. Low budget but has a very unusual and quite fine OST(modern classical/jazz sounding I guess?). Great characters and performances. Some of the performances are simple but are usually always quite charming. Romero was able to create a great look by using locations that happened to be available through family and friends. Martin exemplifies the beauty of doing a lot with a little. Re-watchable because there are so many clever details to be found. People looking for tired vampire movie formulas and a bit of T&A will be disappointed with this film. What's impressive is how little the film actually covers the standard themes of vampires. Instead, the actual social construct of vampirism is brought into question. Viewers are left to figure out and discuss what the main character is all about on their own. One of the finer moments in 70's semi-independent cinema. On par with Season Of The Witch in terms of weirdness and style. The creativity and integrity seen in Martin will seldom be seen again as long as Hollywood continues to be run by spineless, cowardly producers.

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.

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"

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?)