It's DAY 3 of 31 "Days of Horror"!
Welcome back to The [Untitled] Film Block. I'm Your Reviewer for the Evening, Ikari Warrior's ThatDudeWithTheSpeader (AKA Yuzna).
Tonight, I'm going to review another Under appreciated film by one of The Masters of Horror, George A. Romero.
Besides making iconic Zombies films & a cult Horror film (i.e. The Crazies). Romero made a Modern Vampire Film.
This Particular film was released 5 years after The Crazies and, Sadly, fell to the same fate as it's precursor.
G1 Community of ScrewAttack, Meet his other cult classic. The 1978 Vampire Film, Martin....
Trailer to "Martin":
PLOT:
The title character, Martin Mathias-played by John Amplas-may LOOK like a regular teenage boy, but in reality is an 83 year old vampire. He lives with his uncle and niece in the dying town of Braddock, Pennsylvania. His superstitious uncle, Tada Cuda-played by Lincoln Maaze-treats him like the creatures of old myths & tries to repel Martin's vampiric instincts by using strings of garlic bulbs nailed around the house, along with a crucifix. These are unsuccessful.
Since Martin is a vampire, he needs to feed on blood. But, unlike the vampires of old, Mr. Romero made an interesting twist: he sedats his victims [All of whom are women] with syringes full of narcotics. Once his victims are unconscious, he would then slices said victim's wrists with a razor blade and drinks the blood.
The movie ends with a twist that brings something new to the vampire mythology, & it also suggests to the viewer that this disease is more widespread than we originally thought.
CASTING:
What can I say? The actors & actress who played their respective characters made them believable to the audience, especially Actor John Amplas, the man who played the title character, as he made the protagonist mysterious, yet frighting. It was also nice to see Martin's writer/director, George A. Romero, as Father Howard. Also, seeing the Godfather of Gore, legendary special effects and makeup artist Tom Savini, being in the cast as the character Arthur was a must see for horror buffs.
SCORE:
Like in George A. Romero's previous films, Martin's composer Donald Rubinstein made a haunting score that fit the world perfectly. The band Goblin, who previously worked with another legendary horror director named Dario Argento, composed the Italian version of Martin. This relationship would continue with Romero when he asked them to compose the score to his sequel of Night of the Living Dead-1978's "Dawn of the Dead" (Credited as "The Goblins").
FINAL VERDICT:
This film failed due to bad distribution. Luckily, this film was more widely known, unlike his previous film The Crazies. But, sadly, this movie was also overshadowed by The Living Dead films. However, horror fans regard this as both a great 1970's B-Film and one of Romero's best pictures in his 41 years as a director. I also think that it not only revived the Vampire Genre, (that and the film's from UK-based studio Hammer Pictures,) but also made an unique take on mythology.
Anyone who is a horror fan, or a fan of George Romero's work, should buy this underappreciated classic!
HIGH RECOMMENDATION!!!!
DAY 3 of "31 Days of Horror" is Done!
If There's anyone that wants to leave a message, the E-Mail is: [email protected]
As always, I'm g1theincrediblejeff. See you Tomorrow for DAY 4 of "31 Days of Horror"!
"Good...Bad....I'm The Guy with the Spreader"- ThatDudeWithTheSpeader
