Martin, 1978.
Directed by George A. Romero.
Starring John Amplas, Lincoln Maazel, Christine Forrest, and Tom Savini.
SYNOPSIS:
A young man by the name of Martin lives a life of alienation and loneliness, spending his days working as a delivery boy for a distant relative. Martin is also a vampire, prowling the streets at night while looking for fresh victims from which to drain blood from. Or is he?
George A. Romero is a director whom horror fans need no introduction. With his 1968 feature directorial debut Night of the Living Dead, Romero arguably created the modern idea of what a zombie is, with that film’s images of shuffling hordes of flesh-eating undead serving to inspire generations of horror writers, artists, and film-makers.
With his recent passing earlier this year, I decided it would be appropriate to take a look at another one of his films, although this time we’re moving away from the zombies that defined his career (I already looked at three of his Dead films last October Horrors).
Instead, I’m going to take a look at the film that Romero himself considered as his personal favourite, this is Martin.
John Amplas creates a fascinating portrait of an undead bloodsucker in the title role, with his youthful appearance and worldview being a far cry from the more brooding and hypnotic vampires of legend.
Martin doesn’t prowl the night clad in a cape, able to put women under his spell with a simple glance or wave of his hand. Instead, Martin’s blood-sucking efforts are clumsy, with him often having to wrestle with them for several minutes after drugging them while pleads with them to “please just go to sleep”.
One such instance sees Martin break into a woman’s house, hoping to have an easy undisturbed kill with her husband away, only to accidentally interrupt the woman as she sleeps with another man.
Amplas does a fine job in the role, managing to make this creature of the night a fascinating and engaging watch, despite the occasionally odd delivery of his lines.
Perhaps the most innovative thing about Martin is the way that Romero seems to make the film less about vampires or vampirism itself, but instead, it seems to arguably be about madness and mental illness. Martin might stalk the streets at night, killing people and drinking their blood, but does that really mean he’s a vampire.
None of the traditional vampire weaknesses have any effect on him, claiming that “there’s no magic”. He even walks around in the sunlight regularly, with its only effect on him being that it annoys him. The strong suggestion of the film is that Martin isn’t a vampire at all, but is instead suffering from some sort of psychotic breakdown driving him to murder with that his claims of being a vampire merely being his own personal justification for his actions.
The supposed “flashbacks” that he has of his past life (shot in black and white) could be interpreted as merely dreams that he wrongly believes to be memories, or that his delusion is so strong that he actually believes that these events happened in his life.
Even with his elderly grand-uncle Tateh regularly proclaiming him as a blood-sucking monster, often dubbing him “Nosferatu”, the film still keeps it ambiguous as to whether Martin is actually a vampire, with the reactions of Martin’s cousin Christine to her grandfather’s warnings being one of bemusement and accusations about his own madness. In short, Martin might be a vampire, but then again might just be crazy.
The pacing of this film can often be very slow, possessing a somewhat dreamlike quality at times, especially in the beautifully shot “flashback” (or dreams depending on interpretation) scenes.
The pacing both helps and hinders the film at various points, on one hand, it helps to draw the viewer into Martin’s world and allows us to become fully invested in his story, on the other hand, it often leaves the film dragging. Often you find yourself just wanting the film to get a move on with things. The aforementioned scene in which Martin breaks into an adulterous woman’s home is perhaps one scene that drags on just a tad too long with it lasting an age.
The acting for the most part, especially from Amplas in the lead role is largely fine throughout, although Romero’s habit of casting amateur and local actors does become apparent at times with some of the performances being a tad wobbly.
Keep an eye out for a cameo appearance from Romero himself as a priest who uses his scene to praise The Exorcist as a great film. Perhaps he read my review of it from earlier this month.
All in all, while I didn’t enjoy it as much as his more famous zombie-focused works, Martin is still another fine example of the talent possessed by the late George A. Romero.
With a fascinating and novel take on the familiar vampire story and aided by a fine lead performance from John Amplas, Martin might not be to everyone’s liking but it’s still a damn fine film that all horror fans should give a watch at least once, especially with the passing of the man who brought it to us.
Rest in Peace Mr. Romero.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Graeme Robertson
