Martin

1977
R
1h 35m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

13K

YOUR RATING

John Amplas, Francine Middleton, and Sara Venable in Martin (1977)

Drama Horror

A young man, who believes himself to be a vampire, goes to live with his elderly and hostile cousin in a small Pennsylvanian town, where he tries to suppress his blood-lust.A young man, who believes himself to be a vampire, goes to live with his elderly and hostile cousin in a small Pennsylvanian town, where he tries to suppress his blood-lust.A young man, who believes himself to be a vampire, goes to live with his elderly and hostile cousin in a small Pennsylvanian town, where he tries to suppress his blood-lust.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

13K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win

Trivia
The original cut of the film ran for nearly 2 hours and 45 minutes. As of 2021, this version has never been screened publicly and was once considered to be lost until it was rediscovered through the efforts of Romero scholar Kevin Kriess and the Living Dead Museum.

Goofs
At the beginning of the film, Martin breaks into a woman's train cabin and attacks her. At first, she has a cold cream mask on. During the struggle, it suddenly disappears without a trace.

Quotes
Martin Matthias: Things only seem to be magic. There is no real magic. There's no real magic ever.

Alternate versions
The European version of the film is completely re-edited. Martin's flashbacks are placed at the beginning of it so that the story is chronologically linear.

Connections
Featured in Document of the Dead (1980)

User reviews113

Review

Featured review

A Beautiful Piece Of 70's Cinema.

You don't see anyone make a film like this anymore. Shot on 16mm but absolutely gorgeous looking. Low budget but has a very unusual and quite fine OST(modern classical/jazz sounding I guess?). Great characters and performances. Some of the performances are simple but are usually always quite charming. Romero was able to create a great look by using locations that happened to be available through family and friends. Martin exemplifies the beauty of doing a lot with a little. Re-watchable because there are so many clever details to be found. People looking for tired vampire movie formulas and a bit of T&A will be disappointed with this film. What's impressive is how little the film actually covers the standard themes of vampires. Instead, the actual social construct of vampirism is brought into question. Viewers are left to figure out and discuss what the main character is all about on their own. One of the finer moments in 70's semi-independent cinema. On par with Season Of The Witch in terms of weirdness and style. The creativity and integrity seen in Martin will seldom be seen again as long as Hollywood continues to be run by spineless, cowardly producers.