Review of Martin

Introduction

Martin is a quiet young man, shy and retiring, keeps himself to himself really. You can guess where this is going. Martin also has a taste for blood. He`s not troubled by garlic or crosses though, and the sun doesn`t really bother him either. To stupefy his nubile young victims he carries a syringe of anaesthetic and when it comes to the red stuff itself, he has a handy supply of razor blades. It`s when he comes to Pittsburgh to work with his elderly cousin Cuda that his life changes. Cuda is from the old Country, and `knows` Martin for what he really is. While Cuda is determined to save Martin`s soul, Martin himself finds himself in a real relationship and baring his soul on late night talk radio.

Video

The picture is a rather unimpressive 1.33:1 regular ratio. A poor transfer coupled with the original 16mm print does little to make the viewing experience particularly memorable. The contrast is lacking, there aren`t any blacks, only greys, there is significant macro blocking and of course, the perennial problem of grain. But given the low budget of George A Romero`s productions, you`re probably seeing this film at it`s best in nearly 30 years. I mustn`t forget to mention the liberal usage of tomato ketchup.

Martin is presented on a Region 0 disc.

Audio

The sound is a functional DD 2.0 mono track. There is occasionally some hiss and the music is suitably creepy, but the dialogue is clear. There are no subtitles.

Features

The extras begin with 4 pages of introduction by George A Romero slipped inside the Amaray case, and he waxes philosophical on the creation of monsters and the reinvention of myths.

On the disc itself, as well as the animated menus, there is primarily a 24-minute documentary on the career of George A Romero, filmed while he was making Dawn Of The Dead. It`s pretty much a general biography of his career up to that point, with copious clips of his movies. The only problem is that the documentary is in German, Romero`s words are drowned out by a German translation and you are left reading the subtitles.

There is a gallery with 30 stills from the film and the production.

There is a theatrical trailer, a TV spot and two radio spots.

Finally Arrow have included nine pages of covers showcasing their catalogue of DVD titles.

Conclusion

I`m not a fan of horror. I may have mentioned that somewhere before, but it`s the rare movie that makes me sit up and take notice. Alien has been and always will be a classic horror, and I recently fell in love with The Hitcher, an outstanding film that transcends its slasher movie origins. But since an early age when I was first introduced to Freddy Krueger and his ilk, the horror genre has been either one of unintentional comedy, or ill-conceived tedium. I`ve caught a couple of Romero flicks, mostly zombie related, and have put them into the tedious category, having little time for their allegorical pretensions.

Martin, on the other hand gave me pause for thought. I must admit that the opening scene is distasteful in the extreme. A young man, seemingly picks a victim at random, and follows her into her railway cabin. He proceeds in injecting her and struggling with her until the soporific takes effect. He then assaults her and murders her, drinking her blood, then carefully arranges the scene to make it look like a suicide, then calmly walks out. This scene is filmed frankly and at length, and makes no bones about the violence. Until the fake blood started flowing, I was in half a mind to stop the film right there, but the sight of the ketchup brought me back to unreality.

Martin does have a point to make, about our definition of monsters and how we treat them. You are given two viewpoints of Martin`s life. You can believe Cuda, that he really is an ageless vampire that can`t help what he does, or you can see Martin as a disturbed young man, who because of his own sexual inadequacy, resorts to violence against women, and through his own upbringing has ritualised that violence as myth proscribes. He even has flashbacks, or delusions of a long history of violence and ostracism. When you see news stories about people in cults who murder to drink blood, do you simply dismiss them as having read one too many Anne Rice novels, or are these people really conditioned by their environments in such a way for them to justify their own criminal acts. Who is to blame, Martin for being deluded into thinking he is a mythological creature, or Cuda for reinforcing those delusions?

In this world, where school kids go on the rampage with shotguns, the blame invariably falls on the media; it`s the films, the music or the computer games. Seldom is the blame placed on upbringing or environment. I think there is definitely a movie in exploring the psychology of why this happens. Unfortunately, Martin isn`t it. Martin has dated somewhat, and when all is said and done, Romero falls back on the old horror movie clichés, the worst of which being Cuda introduced as a white suited enigma, and bellowing "Nosferatu!" in an East European accent at every opportunity. This rapidly becomes tiresome, as does Martin`s stalking of his victims. While John Amplas` performance as Martin is sympathetic and engaging, the rest of the cast fail to live up to his exemplary work and simply come across as annoying. The film seems to rely on titillation and gore in equal measure, and it didn`t take long for me to lose interest. There is something of value in this film, but it`s something that a horror fan will appreciate more than I. If you are a George A. Romero aficionado then you`ll probably find this a treat. But for me it`s a resounding thumbs down.