Martin (1978)

Lack of good storyline.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Meet Martin (John Amplas, in his screen debut). He's a brooding teenager who's just travelled from Indianapolis to a small Pennsylvania town to live with his elder, Old World cousin Cuda (Lincoln Maazel). For years Cuda has been obsessed with family history and family curses, and as a result believes that Martin is a vampire. Martin also has bought into this, but he lacks traditional vampiric powers. He can go out in the sun, garlic and crosses mean nothing to him, and he lacks fangs. Therefore, he must resort to slicing up people with razor blades when he wants to suck up their blood.At his very best, the late filmmaker George A. Romero could be counted upon to explore some very interesting ideas, and shake up the horror genre in a compelling way. Even people who might take exception to the excellently nasty gore devised by Tom Savini are likely to find this an intriguing tale. It utilizes themes such as those who lend credence to superstition, and the power of that belief, as well as possible mental illness and suggestibility. Romero's use of the Pennsylvania locations (including the town of Braddock) give it some great depressed working-class atmosphere, and his juxtaposition of colour and black & white flashbacks is impressive. "Martin" further benefits from music by Donald Rubinstein that is sometimes discordant and unusual, and melodic at others.Amplas (actually in his late 20s at the time of filming) delivers a subtle, nuanced performance, receiving strong support from Maazel, as the zealot convinced that his kin is "Nosferatu", Christine Forrest (whom Romero married in 1981) as Cudas' rational-minded granddaughter, Savini himself in the role of her boyfriend Arthur, and Elyane Nadeau as single woman / deli customer Mrs. Santini. Savini displays a naturalness in this acting role that one realizes that he could have had more gigs in that capacity over the years. Romero himself has the supporting role of Father Howard."Martin" has a number of riveting sequences, from its opening murder set piece to its conclusion. Best of all, its main character manages to retain some semblance of sympathy even as he does some horrible things, and attains some sort of celebrity status as he repeatedly phones a radio call-in show and gets dubbed "The Count" by the host.One of Romero's most intriguing features by far.Eight out of 10.

Some of George Romero's movies, beyond being gorefests, have political themes. "Martin" is an example. The main character is a young man (John Amplas) who may or may not be a vampire. His uncle (Lincoln Maazel) is convinced that there is a curse in the family and calls the boy Nosferatu. But could it merely be this family superstition that drives Martin to drink blood? The political aspect in the movie is the look at urban decay. The entire town in which the movie is set is falling apart. In a "making of" featurette, Romero noted that the town's mill had closed and the whole place was economically depressed. Much like how "Night of the Living Dead" looked at race relations and the breakdown of the nuclear family, "Dawn of the Dead" poked fun at consumerism, and "Land of the Dead" showed how the rich hide themselves from the chaos and the common people have to fend for themselves, "Martin" shows the end of the American dream.Anyway, it's a really fun movie, and it's especially cool that they pulled this off with a crew of only about 15. Guerrilla filmmaking at its finest! Also starring Christine Forrest (Romero's wife) and Tom Savini.

That was the time before profiling and before scientific police, and even before the plague known as AIDS. Romero in his young age had to play the priest in this film of his, be the screenplay writer and the director. He had to do what so many others had done and have his own true, real Nosferatu or vampire or Count Dracula film. And here it is. Though it is shown as an old superstition from the old continent that has moved to the new continent, there is no rejuvenation, no renaissance, no second life to the myth and the end is to be expected and not to be in any way suspected or doubted. Then the film loses all its power because there is no escape for the poor Martin and no way out for the whole story that is self contained and locked up in a dying if not dead myth. Now does the technique used by Romero give a second life to that myth? Certainly not. A syringe does not frighten anyone. Some thick red blood does not disgust anyone. So it is flat and there is no way to find any depth in this cheap film.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

This was a decent horror movie. I was thrown off a lot but I still liked it. John Amplas (an actor I admire) gives his debut in this movie, as the lead role. And he pulls it off very well. Also, my man Tom Savini makes his big screen debut, although hes not much of a star here, I still admire his part. Martin was a character I could very much relate to. It was as if my life was based off the movie. I thought Cuda was sort of annoying, and the ending only further proved my theory. The ending was a bit shallow in my opinion, but it couldn't have been done much differently. Romero has made yet another great movie, among his many. The movie was difficult to follow at times but I suppose it all pays off in the end. I give this a 7/10, flawed, but great movie. A Must-see for Romero, horror and vampire fans.