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John Amplas, Lincoln Maazel, Christine Forrest, Elayne Nadeau, Tom Savini ... see more see more... , Sarah Venable , Fran Middleton , Tony Buba , Clifford J. Forrest Jr. , Al Levitsky , Clayton McKinnon , Robert Ogden , James Roy , Richard P. Rubinstein , Donna Siegal , Donaldo Soviero , George A. Romero

Nearly a decade after George A. Romero changed the face of modern horror films with Night of the Living Dead -- and following the less successful projects Season of the Witch and The Crazies -- the Pi... read more read more...ttsburgh-based auteur returned to top form with this superb vampire tale. Set in a rapidly crumbling steeltown suburb, the story focuses on shy, moody Martin (John Amplas), a teenager of East European descent who may or may not be a vampire. Though he possesses no fangs or supernatural powers and has no aversions to either crucifixes or garlic, Martin is nevertheless compelled to drug pretty young women, slash them with razor blades, and consume their blood. His motivations seem purely psychological -- as revealed to a call-in radio talk show where Martin has become an anonymous celebrity -- but the notion of a family vampire curse is fostered by Martin's stoic uncle Cuda Lincoln Maazel, who is convinced that he must destroy the boy by hammering a stake through his heart. Romero's superb script keeps the film's supernatural questions ambiguous, focusing instead on the characters' inner turmoil as modern-day attitudes and values clash with vanishing Old World traditions. Filmed on an extremely low budget, Martin benefits from its gritty, kitchen-sink realism, making the outbursts of graphic horror even more surreal and disturbing and creating a sense of doom that builds to a tragically ironic climax. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Flixster Users

73% liked it

6,242 ratings

Critics

96% liked it

24 critics

R, 1 hr. 36 min.

Directed by: George A. Romero

Release Date: May 1, 1977

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DVD Release Date: June 20, 2000

Stats: 429 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (429)

  • fb1664868775
    October 26, 2011
    fb1664868775
    George Romero's Martin is my favorite vampire movie. Set in 1970's Pittsburgh. At times gruesome and at times extremely thoughtful. Also a great soundtrack and a superb final scene. The thinking man's vampire movie.
  • ajv2688
    March 15, 2011
    ajv2688
    One of my favourite vampire movies, this one if from Romero, who is more famous for his zombie movies, but does a fantastic job in any horror genre, I think. This movie has interesting characters, a story which is pretty realistic for a vampire movie, and an unexpected ending. ... read moreI love it.
  • guttersnipe28
    October 19, 2010
    guttersnipe28
    Though it is (and will no doubt remain) overshadowed by Romero's zombie movies, this was proof that George could work wonders with other horror types as well.

    Rather than deal with some mythology-laden period piece or anything liek that, Martin is instead a picture about a t... read moreroubled young man, who does not suffer from mirrors, garlic or sunlight, and extracts his 'sustenance' with the aid of hypodermic needles. Romero's direction beefits from being played straight up, though the material may well lend itself well to comedy, it instead works as a piece examining social disorder and distrust. Intercut throughout the film are sepia scenes of more traditional, gothic tales of darkness, which function well as immediate comparison with this more realistic tale, or could also be treated as Martin's memories. Also note Martin's need for confession - he frequently makes calls to a local radio station talking about his murders and blood consumption (as if of course mocked by the presenter).

    Tom Savini lends some neat acting support too.
  • puffchunk
    October 16, 2009
    puffchunk
    A bit too uncomfortable for me.
  • rubystevens
    August 11, 2009
    rubystevens
    quite apart from the 70's low budget cheese, this film has a brilliant conceit. vampire films generally aren't that scary because they're so far from reality but romero almost makes us believe in a strange boy called martin and even sympathize with him. the acting is far from s... read moretellar but the story makes up for it
  • romy861
    November 24, 2008
    romy861
    Liked this a lot. Good 70's vampire movie.
  • FilmFanatik
    March 17, 2008
    FilmFanatik
    The best vampire story ever filmed.
  • mjgildea
    November 15, 2007
    mjgildea
    Such a weird-ass movie. Picture Napoleon Dynamite being made in the 70s as a half-assed horror movie. Except he's a phony wannabe vampire who also befriends a kindly bored and lonely housewife/cougar. The first half hour or 45 minutes kind of dragged and during the second murder(... read mores)/home invasion something just takes off and it's great from there on in. The black and white flashbacks(?) are great and the exorcism scene is so off to the point of hilarity--as is a young and clean-shaven Tom Savini. The afterschool special-like score doesn't fit at all but just adds to the oddness and randomness of the movie. And as for the ending, I was actually shocked even though I know I shouldn't have been. Overall, hideously underrated. One of Romero's best.
  • harrycaul
    September 21, 2007
    harrycaul
    George Romero just about invented the thinking-person's horror movie. This is one of his best: one of the greatest and most offbeat vampire films ever made. Martin certainly drinks blood but is he really a vampire or just a very sick young man?
  • ryguy4738
    February 11, 2012
    ryguy4738
    **** out of ****

    George Romero's "Martin" opens rather ingeniously with a scene taking place on a train. It is there that we meet the titular protagonist Martin (John Amplas); a handsome but nearly inanimate young man who we learn believes himself to be a vampire. That is why ... read morein some of the most shocking, provocative establishing frames known to both man and cinema alike; he partakes in the stalking, drugging, and murder of a woman aboard the train. Martin has a needle that he injects into her flesh that contains fluids that shall circulate through her body and in no time put her to sleep, so that he can slit her wrists and drink the blood pouring directly from the wound. She will die in her sleep when the rest is lost.

    Martin exits the train and enters the station of Braddock, Pennsylvania. He is greeted by his grandfather Tada Cuda (Lincoln Maazel), who also thinks Martin is a dangerously depraved blood-sucker and creature of the night; but allows him to stay at his place for the time being regardless. But if Martin really is a vampire, Grandpa Cuda is prepared; Martin's room is rigged with bells (to ensure that Grandpa knows whenever somebody enters the room) and garlic hangs from every door in the house. Oh, and there's mirrors too; because Cuda sees himself as the classic vampire hunter. He's convinced that Martin is an evil being who must be stopped; and that his shy nature is merely deception.

    It's clear that Martin is not only troubled and down-right odd on the inside; but also on the outside. His social skills appear to be strangely underdeveloped for a person of his age, and for that reason, he vows never to make new friends during his stay. However, this proves more difficult than one could imagine; given that Martin's thirst for blood might call for some typical socialization amongst the town residents as well as the others with whom he shares the house with. Just one of these people is Cousin Christina, who cooks for Martin and becomes his one and only friend. However, Cuda is the man of the house; and what he says goes. This means that if Christina must leave in order to secure her "safety" given the possibility of Martin being a violent creature; then she must leave, and that is that.

    By day, Martin works at his grandfather's grocery store and makes deliveries for the old man; and by night, he hunts. Martin finds it truly difficult to control the two very different lives that he's attempting to uphold. In one of them, he must conform to society and live the life of a typical young adult male working minimum wage; and in the other, he must be quick, bold, and fearless. In a sense, both lives are given the chance to intertwine when Martin meets a beautiful, lonely housewife who often requests his presence for the sole sake of company. They strike up a romantic relationship that could prove dangerous if Martin cannot locate his next victim alternative to the housewife in a sufficient time span.

    "Martin" is often regarded as one of the director's finest works as well as a classic in the realm of vampirism cinema for a plethora of reasons, but I think above all, people like it so much because it's different and unique. It was made back when Romero hadn't made his masterpiece of the living dead, "Dawn of the Dead", and was still living off the success and the initial revulsion (which has since turned into praise) that was garnered when he made his break-out feature film, "Night of the Living Dead"; so in that sense, it was made when Romero, just like Martin, was still an anarchist, a daring visionary...a rebel. I don't think I've seen a vampire story told quite like this; or a vampire written with as much depth and admiration as the titular Martin. Aside from being unique stylistically, digging deep into the depths of the film might prove beneficial. This is the second time I've seen the film, and only now am I drawing certain thematic conclusions to why the film counts as great cinema.

    For one thing, Martin sees his thirst for blood as a mental illness; so the film itself is a metaphor, or parable, for the mental illnesses that more commonly exist - such as pedophilia, Bi-Polar Disorder, and others. Seen from this angle, I think the film gains a power different from that of any other Romero film - good, bad, or ugly - from the past, the present, and the future. "Martin" proves that, unlike many directors working in the genre that attempted to prove themselves a successor to his stylistics, Romero was a visionary and saw the world in all its horror, beauty, and ironic wonder. "Martin" is a vampire movie about real human beings plagued by delusions and visions of things considered otherworldly; as well as pasts that are anything but memorably merry.

    Tom Savini's gore effects are outstanding. I'm told that the film was made on a low-budget; but the mastery of Savini's talent is that he's been known for doing so much with so little (he also has a supporting role in the film as the romantic partner of Christina). The scares in "Martin" are indeed mostly induced by the blood and gore; although everything else is brought on by thought as well as the realism of every situation. If Martin is not indeed a vampire - and the film makes it very clear that he most likely isn't, but rather a misunderstood man that society labels as a monster for his peculiarities - then he's a delusional psychopath, and just like the film's poster suggests, he could be the boy next door. How can one ignore such a thought?

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Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
March 26, 2009
Variety Staff, Variety

George A. Romero is still limited by apparently low budgets. But he has inserted some sepia-toned flashback scenes of Martin in Rumania that are extraordinarily evocative. Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum
January 28, 2004
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

A surprisingly tender, ambiguous, and sexy film in which Romero's penchant for social satire is for once restricted to local and modest proportions. Full Review

October 14, 2011
Film4

More than just a midnight-movie classic, Martin is inventive, haunting and bitingly smart. Forget the recent Land Of The Dead and see Romero at the top of his terror game. Full Review

Fernando F. Croce
March 29, 2010
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion

I Was a Teenage Vampire, rendered by George Romero with breathtaking dolor and tenderness. Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
August 21, 2008
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

Aside from the zombie classics and taken by itself, Martin is also a kind of masterpiece. Full Review

Nick Schager
January 9, 2008
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness

Romero's finest achievement may have been...[this] 1977 character study about a young, lonely man living in Pittsburgh who may or may not be a vampire. Full Review

September 25, 2007
TV Guide's Movie Guide

A shocking, thoughtful reworking of the vampire myth set in a dying American steel town. Full Review

Adam Smith
September 25, 2007
Adam Smith, Empire Magazine

Gory thriller that makes fun of the vampire myth before the hammer blow of a truly shocking climax. Full Review

Derek Adams
February 9, 2006
Derek Adams, Time Out

Romero makes stunning use of his Pittsburgh locations to create a desolate suburban wasteland, and at its best it is rivetingly raw-edged. Full Review

Pablo Villaca
April 29, 2005
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

Psicologicamente denso, o filme usa o "vampirismo" do personagem como metáfora das angústias de uma década conturbada, podendo ser "lido" de inúmeras formas diferentes.

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