| Product: |
Martin (DVD) |
| Date: |
28.06.00 (13 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: original spin on vampire movies
Disadvantages: somewhat slow at times
Before Dawn of the Dead there was one of George Romero's earlier and more underrated films, Martin, offering a unique take on the whole vampire legend, presenting Martin as someone who claims to be an 800 year old vampire.
Martin tells us that everything you see in the movies about vampires is untrue and even though he kills people on occasion you are left with a feeling of sympathy for him. Romero does a good job making you care about Martin while watching him deal with his sometimes frightening, often times fascinating life.
John Amplas gives a nicely understated performance as the psychotic teenager, Martin, who believes he is a modern day vampire (although he doesn’t have fangs and must use razor blades to kill) but also drinks human blood. This belief is also reinforced by his superstitious uncle Tata Cuda (played by Lincoln Maazel) when Martin, a 17 year old boy, arrives in Pittsburg to stay with him, his uncle promises to save Martin's soul and then destroy him after he has been saved.
Now, one thing I do agree with is that that the low budget look of the film actually added to the real feel of the overall story, even adding a certain sense of realism. It is interesting to me also, that it is never really revealed whether Martin is a vampire or not. That decision is left to you, the audience, skeptic or not.
I have read that Romero was using Martin as a metaphor for the blood being sucked out of the town, a once a thriving industrial heartland but now left lacking jobs and it’s once bountiful youth. Uhm, well okay, I can see that, but really I choose to think that the pacing of the film was more to exemplify humanity and to give the film an overall melancholy feel.
Modern horror fans may find this movie a little bit too slow, I admit some scenes could have been shortened up a bit but it did made me think that Romero actually liked his character, Martin. For classic horror fans, vamp fans, and
Romero fans however, this flick is well worth checking out.
Martin is actually a very good little vamp/horror film and makes my top ten vampire list, most definitely.
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