Martin

Directed by: George A Romero

Starring: George Amplas, Lincoln Maazel, Christine Forrest, Elyane Nadeau, Tom Savini

Synopsis:

Martin (Amplas) is sent to live with his elderly and cousin, Cuda Maazel) in the outskirts of Pittsburgh. Cuda is very hostile towards Martin, and with good reason – Martin is a vampire. Or at least, he and his relatives believe him to be. Martin spends his nights searching for new victims to feast on their blood, while by day he works in Cuda’s shop and makes tentative friends. He also becomes a minor celebrity on a radio chat-show, when he calls them about the differences between real and fictional Nosferatu...

Review:

George A Romero’s Martin is an interesting look at the “real-life” practicalities of being a vampire, stripped of the supernatural aspects. Instead of using “glamour” to hypnotise his victims, Martin instead has to inject them with a strong sedative to make them sleepy and passive. Similarly, he has no special fangs – he uses a razor blade to open up a vein. This also helps to make the murder look like a suicide.

Whether Martin is truly a vampire or just deluded into thinking he is by a family steeped in tradition and folklore is a moot point. Either way Martin is a dangerous individual who kills women to satisfy a deep-seeded psychological desire. Martin deludes his selfish needs and murderous desires by telling the women they’re just going to sleep and will wake up later.

Romero films in a mixture of styles, experimenting in ways unlike anything he did with his “Dead” movies. The murder set-pieces contain a lot of visual detail, with lots of shots cut together very quickly. Other scenes involving exposition are filmed from a static point of view. Interspersed through the film are black and white, exaggerated parodies of the scenes they are in, portraying the scene as it would appear in an Expressionist vampire movie. I think it’s implied that this is how Martin sees the world.

It has to be said that not a great deal happens in the film. The mundane repetitive nature of life in the decrepit suburbs gives the film a realism unlike any other vampire movie. Martin is miles removed from the contemporary teen vampire we’re subjected to at the moment.

Tom Savini does an excellent job with the special fx in the film, delving into new territory. The final scene in particular is spectacular.

Arrow films and Cult-Labs have once again issued a splendid disc, including director’s commentary and a contemporary look back at the making of the film, and containing no less than three versions of the film itself. The first disc offers a wide-screen or pan-and-scan version of the film, while the second disc includes the Italian re-edit, called Vampyr, which includes a soundtrack by Goblin. This version of the film is interesting because it removes the night train sequence from the start of the film, and inserts it later on. It also includes a different edit of the final scene.

Verdict

An interesting take on the vampire stripped of the myths and legends, Martin proves to be a decent psycho-thriller rather than a horror movie, save for the final shots, which are extraordinary and do nothing to dispel or confirm whether Martin is in fact a vampire. Gore fans are likely to be disappointed although the film contains decent examples of Savini’s work. Once again Arrow have produced a wealth of material, making this the definitive release of Romero’s film.

7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)

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