31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Martin

Martin (1976)

Directed by George Romero

Starring John Amplas, Lincoln Maazel, Christine Forrest, Elyane Nadeau, Tom Savini

A young man on train drugs a woman, slits her wrists, and drinks her blood. This young man is Martin; troubled boy and self-professed vampire. He’s prone to murdering women for their blood in addition to black and white dreams about romantic bloodletting and angry mobs. Martin is traveling to Braddock, Pennsylvania to live with his cousin Christine and his granduncle Tateh Cuda. Cuda is an old world Lithuanian Catholic who immediately sees Martin for who the monster he is. He warns Martin that he’ll kill him if anyone in Braddock is murdered. While working in Cuda’s butcher shop and getting seduced by lonely housewives, Martin struggles with his urges. How long can he keep secretly feeding his bloodlust before his family finds out?

This is one of George Romero’s best movies. It’s bristling with interesting ideas, unsettling scenes, and tension that doesn’t let up. Martin is a vampire movie, a slasher movie, and a mystery. Because of Martin’s visions of the past, it’s questionable as to what’s really going on with him. You could interpret the movie as Martin’s psychotic escapades and delusions of dark grandeur. Or you could see the film as a more grounded and well thought out vampire tale. Either way, Martin is a genuinely terrifying movie.

There are few special effects in Martin, but what does appear looks good. Mainly, the makeup effects are bloody. Syringes pulling fresh sanguine, dripping wounds and the like look credible. The real show stopper is when someone gets staked in one long, painful scene. The act of hammering a sharp piece of wood through someone’s chest is displayed in such an utterly convincing way that it’s almost hard to watch if it weren’t so terribly gorgeous.

John Amplas inhabits the role of Martin. He has an authenticity and charisma that make his misunderstood vampire/psychotic fetishist performance a thing of movie magic. Amplas makes Martin charming, flakey, sympathetic, and disturbing. Lincoln Maazel does well as Martin’s uncle and foil, granduncle Cuda. Maazel portrays a determined man stuck in his ways and unwilling to accept the more modern notion that vampires don’t exist. The rest of the cast is a grab bag of people who can mostly act (Christine Forrest, Tom Savini) and lots of bit players that really can’t. Luckily, the movie never feels poorer for it. It just shows the low budget, independent spirit of Romero’s early work.

Martin is a great Romero movie and a great vampire movie. It reinvents the cinematic vampire mythology while playing up the sexual violence undertone present in every vampire movie. Make the effort to find this movie and you won’t be disappointed.

10 out of 10

31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Stake Land

Stake Land (2010)

Directed by Jim Mickle

Starring Nick Damici, Connor Paolo, Michael Cerveris, Sean Nelson, Kelly McGillis, & Danielle Harris

A vampiric plague has ravaged the world, leaving only a handful of non-infected survivors. A young man named Martin is taken under the tutelage of a man only called Mister. Mister kills vampires better than anyone, matching their savagery and trumping them with ingenuity.  As they make their way through the changed world, Mister and Martin come meet all sorts of people trying to survive. They meet a nun who tries to maintain her faith in these dark times, a woman about to be a mother, and a man building an army using faith and violence. It’s through this journey that Mister guides Martin from scared boy to capable survivor.

Stake Land is the latest feature film from the pair of writer/director Jim Mickle and writer/actor Nick Damici. Their debut was the surprisingly strong rat mutation/zombie movie Mulberry Street. The creative team made a very interesting world that sets up a good post apocalypse story with elements of westerns and road movies. As such, Stake Land is more about the journey than it is the destination. You will probably know how the movie is generally going to end, but the way to that destination is entertaining and scary.

There are some story points that simply don’t make fit. The zealots show up in a helicopter at one point to toss vampires out of it and into a secure town of uninfected. Sure, it looks cool and the sequence is really well choreographed. You just also wonder why the vampires aren’t immediately eating the chopper crew or how the zealots have maintained a chopper this far into the apocalypse without discernible resources or technical skills.

The bit of nonsense comes in the third act, as suddenly one vampire becomes extraordinarily intelligent. Like, clear linguistic communication and battle tactics. The movie never addresses the how this anomaly comes to be; only that this one is special for the purposes of the story and it will never be revisited again.

The makeup and gore effects are strong. Vampires look like they’re half way through turning into something else while simultaneously decomposing. The artistic design also looks quite good in a bleak, desolate way. Everything is dirty, broken, and generally well worn. The makeshift vampire proofing of Mister looks clever in how ramshackle it is. For a film that’s all about the end of the world, it looks pretty good and certainly authentic.

Nick Damici is an underrated talent and a fantastic actor. His Mister isn’t a Clint Eastwood knockoff, he actually shows subtle emotions through his body language and the slightest facial twitches. Given that he co-wrote the script, Damici probably knows exactly what the character is supposed to be doing. Connor Paolo does fine as Martin, looking like someone trying to piece themselves back together in the midst of a trauma. His narration alternates between being sleepy and sounding melodramatic, but it’s not enough to kill the enjoyment. Kelly McGillis and Danielle Harris are both good in their supporting roles. Michael Cerveris is creepy and menacing as Jebedia Loven, cult leader and mass murderer. The performances are all around good.

Stake Land is an interesting, enjoyable, and cool vampire movie. give it a chance and you’ll find a pleasantly spooky surprise.

8 out of 10