MARTIN UK DVD Review

A teenage vampire movie? Snooze... But hang on, this is a George A Romero flick from the 70s! Shot between The Crazies in '73 and Dawn of the Dead in '78, Martin was made before the director became known almost exclusively for his zombies and shows the director at perhaps his most restrained. Reassessing the vampire in a modern context, like so many since, it dispenses with many of the classical legends, and focuses on vampirism as an affliction or illness; a destructive manifestation of teenage angst and sexual awakening.

 A shy and awkward teenager, Martin believes he is in fact an 84 year old vampire condemned to drink human blood for survival. Lacking fangs of any sort, Martin carefully stalks his victims, before drugging them and slicing open their veins with a razor. He moves to small town Pennsylvania to live with his ageing cousin Cuda, who maintains that Martin is the bearer of a long-standing family curse. Referring to him as Nosferatu, Cuda employs the teenager at his local grocery store whilst also attempting to cure him in various rather hackneyed ways.

Romero presents a highly ambiguous take on the vampire story, with a protagonist that is only demonstrably a vampire by way of his, admittedly unusual, habit of drinking human blood. He is otherwise the least vampire-like cinema vampire you're likely to come across. With no aversion to daylight, crucifixes or garlic, he mopes about like a typically moody, misunderstood teenager. His method of blood extraction too is clinical rather than bestial, and a far cry from the flamboyant blood-letting of, say, Near Dark or Interview with the Vampire. This measured solution to the mucky business echoes the notion that, in Romero's world, blood lust is a medical, biological condition. It also makes for some of the least sexy vampire action you'll see. Though Martin himself is somewhat conflicted (he's a 'teenager' after all), a crucial relationship with a lonely older woman implies his vampiric tendencies are in fact distinct from genuine (mutual) sexual desire, and that this may even abate his bloodlust.

It's a grainy and evidently low budget affair, shot on 16mm, with clunky performances to match. Forays into black and white, and some of the trippy psychedelic scenes are more Argento (he reputedly edited the Goblin-scored Italian Cut, also included here) than Romero and those expecting a great deal from - or great deal of - Tom Savini's effects may be disappointed. John Amplas is convincing enough as Martin though, and a standout home invasion is suitably chilling in a very grungy, raw, '70s US horror' kind of way: lots of sustained screaming and an incredible brown shagpile carpet.

 A low-key early work from Romero, it's a fascinating companion to his zombie movies, with a similar sense of pathos and an abrupt, distressing denouement that recalls Night of the Living Dead.

The Discs

 Presented in a pretty comprehensive package by Arrow Video, it's just a shame the film itself hasn't been re-mastered. The picture is fine, and it's great to have the original 4:3 ratio as well as the cropped 16:9 version, but it's a pretty murky at times with considerable grain, even for a film of this age. Given the low budget feel of the whole thing, it doesn't detract too much from the viewing experience (especially if VHS has been your previous host), just don't expect a shiny new print.

As with other Arrow releases, a lot of thought has gone into the packaging, with four sleeve art options (cool), a double-sided poster (pointless), a booklet with Romero commentary from 1977 (nice) and six postcards (again, nice).

 There's also the aforementioned 'Italian Cut' of the film with a score from the awesome Argento favourites, Goblin, as well as a commentary track, Italian Romero documentary and other assorted oddments.

Martin is out on UK DVD through Arrow Video from 28th June 2010.