13 Nights of Shocktober: Martin (1978)

by A.J.

This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. There are a lot of horror movies out there, but as a genre, horror is still looked down upon by some mainstream critics and moviegoers. It doesn’t help that, admittedly, there are so few quality horror movies made but, like comedy, it’s a very difficult and subjective genre. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some recommendations for scary movies to help you celebrate Shocktober.

Night 7: George Romero Memorial Night
“A real live honest to goodness vampire”

Martin (1978) 

A decade after director George Romero changed horror cinema and pop culture forever with his landmark film Night of the Living Dead, he tackled another iconic movie monster: the vampire. Martin is not like any other vampire film, and the titular character is not like any other movie vampire. Martin (John Amplas), a shy 17-year-old, believes that he is a vampire—not the creature of folklore and movies, but a real-life vampire. He doesn’t sleep in a coffin, can be out in daylight, and doesn’t have fangs, but he craves human blood. He goes to live with his kind cousin, Christine, and his fanatical grandfather, Cuda, who swears to cure Martin of vampirism.

This is a most unusual movie. it contains nothing supernatural. As Martin says many times: there is no magic. The atmosphere is low-key and subdued emphasizing the odd nature of Martin’s delusions and making the scenes of violence especially stand out. The third act is just as unusual, involving a car chase and a big bloody shootout. However, even this sequence somehow does not break the movie’s low-key tone.

Martin has the grainy, low budget look of many movies from the 1970’s giving it a quasi-documentary feel. Romero had originally intended to shoot the entire film in black and white. The film's producers insisted that the movie be in color, but the flashes of Martin’s fantasies are in black and white. These short scenes have a dreamlike quality thanks to the black and white photography. The fantasy sequences mirror the events of the movie giving a brief glimpse into Martin’s mind and how he experiences those moments.

The blood and gore in Martin are mild compared to other horror movies, even other horror movies from the 70’s, but they may still make the squeamish turn away. This was legendary special makeup effects artist Tom Savini’s first movie as both a makeup artist and an actor. He originally auditioned for the role of Martin but was given a smaller role and hired for special effects instead. This movie is also Savini and Romero’s first collaboration. They would go on to work together on Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Creepshow, Monkey Shines, and Two Evil Eyes. Romero eventually gave Savini a much larger acting role in his odd Renaissance fair motorcycle movie, Knightriders. The recipe Savini used for the blood in Martin was the same recipe for stage blood  and the result was a bright orange-red blood. It doesn’t look entirely realistic on film, but it does give the movie a stylish feel similar to Italian horror movies of the same era. Savini also ended up doing stunts and can be spotted getting hit by a car.

Martin may lack big scares but its approach to the vampire makes it incredibly interesting. The score, cinematography, direction from Romero give Martin a lyrical, dreamlike quality at times. This is the sort of movie you could watch with someone that doesn’t like horror movies since it’s secretly an offbeat drama about a disturbed young man. Unfortunately, Martin is a very rare film. The DVD is out of print and expensive to purchase, but if you ever get the chance to see Martin I highly recommend watching it for Shocktober.