Horror Movie A Day: Martin

(I missed a review yesterday, but not a movie. Expect a catch-up review shortly.)

Today’s movie is a very modern Vampire tale from George Romero director of Night of the Living dead and it’s many sequels. Martin is an 84 year old Vampire. The sunlight only slightly bothers his eyes, he doesn’t have any fangs, or at least he doesn’t use them, and he doesn’t have any super strength or any vampire powers whatsoever. He uses drug filled needles to subdue his victims. But he does drink blood. He gets the shakes if he doesn’t. He stalks his prey like any vicious predator, he takes him time to make sure he doesn’t screw anything up.  He can’t afford to screw up, if he doesn’t get his blood he gets the shakes. His mind is bombarded with Vampire flashbacks, from his early days as a Vampire. Or so we think at first. As the movie progresses we realize that maybe Martin isn’t who he thinks he is.  And that his flashbacks aren’t memories, but visions that his deluded mine has created, visions that resemble and parody old monster movies. 

Maybe Martin is insane, and his belief that he is a vampire and that he needs the blood to live, has turned him into a serial killer, a real life monster. But if he is crazy he’s not the only one. Martin lives with his elderly cousin, an old world European type, who wholeheartedly believes Martin is Nosferatu.  And that the family curse is his burden to bear. He must be Martin’s caretaker. But he will not tolerate his nocturnal activities in their small hometown. Martin works a part-time job at his cousin’s store delivering groceries. He strikes up a  friendship with a desperate housewife, that turns sexual. She enjoys the company since her husbands been neglecting her, It’s a new experience for Martin as he has never been close with a woman before with out all the bloodletting. 

This is a low-budget film and it looks it. Its shot with 1 camera with many friends and family of the crew starring in the picture. I’m not going to lie and say it looks expensive, but it just goes to show you don’t need a $100 million dollar budget to make a shocking and thought provoking film. Hell Romero probably shot this under a 100k. The opening sequence of the film is a tense, Martin stalks a lady aboard a train. He gets into her private room and tussles with her for what goes on forever. Martin can barely overpower, and you feel bad for the lady but you also don’t want him to get caught.  You also wonder with the quality of the rest of the film, if Romero and his crew were also in danger of getting caught. I don’t think they had permission to soot a murder scene on the train.

This is a hell of a film and You’ll feel like Freud analyzing not just Martin and his family, but everyone in the film has issues that could be worked out with an weekly session at the shrink. You also start to wonder why you root for Martin, being that he is a murderer. You suspect it’s because he was driven to that by his crazy ass family. Martin’s closest modern day counterpart is Showtime’s Dexter. And just like with Dexter you start to believe this serial killer is the sanest person in the film. Then you get to the very shocking end, which validates this thought. 

It’s an amazing film and Romero proves he can do something other than Zombies. This is just a good a film as Dawn of the Dead, if not better. Because days later you'll still be thinking about Martin. I recommend it to all in search of a realistic portrayal of Vampires and George Romero fans.

I give it 3 Vamp energy drinks.