With Only Lovers Left Alive making waves this year, it’s a perfect time for you to revisit George A. Romero’s Martin, which took him away from the zombie genre and into the vampire fray.
Just like he technically invented the zombie (I could argue against this, starting with Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space), he also reimagined what it would like to be a vampire.
In Martin, which released on this day in 1978 (even though it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1977), a young man (John Amplas), who believes himself to be a vampire, goes to live with his elderly and hostile cousin in a small Pennsylvania town where he tries to redeem his blood-craving urges.
As far as I can tell, this was the first “realistic” take on vampires, bringing he creatures into the real world, with real world problems.
According to Wikipedia, Romero claims that Martin is the favorite of all his films. It was shot with a low budget, filmed entirely on real locations, and many of the supporting cast members were friends and family of the filmmakers. It was filmed on location in the Pittsburgh suburb of Braddock, Pennsylvania during the summer of 1976.
If you’ve never seen this movie, you’re in for a treat. I guarantee it’ll become an immediate favorite of yours.
