Martin (USA. 1977)

The vampire genre is a moldy corpse that has been beaten to un-death. Every cliché has been mined and any attempt to create a new bloodsucker filled tale today usually turns out to be nothing more then a bunch of 'cool' people dressed in black that like to hiss a lot. It’s interesting to watch “Martin” twenty plus years after it was originally released because while classified as “A Modern Take on the Vampire” it bears little to no anything that has come before or after. It's (no pun intended) its own beast.

John Amplas stars as Martin, a demure young man who claims to be an eighty four year old vampire. He doesn’t suck blood through any fangs, he dosen't fear sunlight nor does he shy away from the “power” of the cross. All he wants to do is peacefully knock out beautiful young women by injecting them with a chemical concoction, slit their wrist with a razor blade and then suck out a little blood. Martin believes his need for blood is nothing more than a disease. His uncle, on the other hand, is dead set that Martin is yet another victim of the family curse and is now a soulless “Nosferatu”! He must be stopped at all costs. Martin just wants to prove that there's no magic in this world, only cold unfeeling reality.

The free-form plot follows the obviously disturbed young Martin as he traverses the world in search of some of kind of meaning behind his existence. The quest for blood is nothing more than an excuse to present a young man with no direction in life. Martin is fueled by delusions of romanticism (Cleverly presented in Black and White cutaways to a 40’s style horror vampire type films when Martin is on the hunt) that clash with the brutal modern day reality of gangs, grungy streets and loose women. 'None of them are pretty enough anymore" he thinks to himself. Don’t worry, this is nowhere the dreary psychological profile I make it out be. Martin, at the end of the day, sucks blood and it’s a hard and difficult process filled with planning, stricking in the dark and dealing with the unexpected repercussions of the unwanted murders that result. Romero never skimps on the suspense and he knocks it out of the park as usual. Tom Savini is also on board to share his (arguably) first attempts at gore SFX for the screen.

The truth behind Martin’s vampirism is inconsequential. The only important thing is “Where do things go now?” and that answer is one that’s always just out of our reach. Romero presents a snap-shot of a situation with character that are so set in their ways that things can only end the inevitable brutal way (Take a guess?) It's really a shame that director George Romero (Master of the Zombie) didn't step away from the shambling dead more often, because he sure knows how to construct layered dramatic scenario dressed in classic genre clothing that dosen't have to rely on clever gore to make an impact. A fine companion piece to the thematically similar (Struggling with modern day VS Romantic perception of the past) Knightriders.