Movie Club (November): MARTIN

[JohnShaft]

Originally Posted by KennyThaKilla

bad acting and poor editing, it really just reminded me of a 70s porno... without the porn.

Hah. The 70's porno thing I can see a bit. But I don't think it was an imaginatively bereft film.

Not to mention the fact that Martin was an 80+ year old vampire that turned out to be a social retard. Really? At 80+ years old, he doesn't know how to talk to people, especially women? You'd think he'd probably have that mastered at least by the time he was 50.

Honestly, I agree (somewhat) with this thought. But only if he WAS an 80-year-old vampire. I think this is one of the things that make me think he was nothing more than a 20some-year-old kid with a terrible upbringing who was incredibly socially stunted. And actually not that bad a guy (other than the fact he killed women to drink their blood!!)
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Comparing Martin to standard vampire movies doesn't really lead anywhere IMO. Because it's obviously not even trying to explore the same ground.

Take BLADE - It's a vampire action movie. Not really much more than that. And I like it. It's just not exploratory at all. Nor thought-provoking as I see it. Again it's not trying to be. It's an apple to Martin's (blood) orange.

Specifically I think Romero here is exploring the topic, "when is a vampire not a vampire?", and wondering how far can I push it?

All Martin does is drink blood. And yet this is still looked at as a vampire movie.

When we all have our (own) strict definitions of "what is a zombie" it's interesting how far Romero was able to push this.

I see MARTIN as "a vampire movie without a vampire".

And I come away from it thinking it's a vampire movie because Martin is made to think he's a vampire. To me, under the surface, it's really more a movie about a socially-retarded sexual predator (just using the trappings of the vampire)...

[TheLurkingFear]

That's something I was gonna say: it's ambiguous as to whether he actually is. I personally read it as him NOT being a vampire.

I also like the way Romero uses the old romantic images of the gothic vamp (Martin's daydreams in the film) that contrast the modern depiction of Martin's 'vampire'.

70s porno? I missed all those unfortunately!(Just kidding, I know what you guys mean!!!!!)

[JohnShaft]

Originally Posted by TheLurkingFear

I also like the way Romero uses the old romantic images of the gothic vamp (Martin's daydreams in the film) that contrast the modern depiction of Martin's 'vampire'.

Yeah, I liked those, and they could lead one to believe "oh, he must be old, and a vampire, because he's remembering his gothic past".

There's a very strong clue this is not the case though: In the first scene on the train, right before Martin enters the woman's carriage, he imagines breaking in and attacking her. We then cut back to Martin before he has entered the chamber. So the attack was just his imagination. A flight of fancy.

And this imagined attack was in black-and-white. Just like all of the gothic vampire scenes...

[TheLurkingFear]

Originally Posted by JohnShaft

Yeah, I liked those, and they could lead one to believe "oh, he must be old, and a vampire, because he's remembering his gothic past".

There's a very strong clue this is not the case though: In the first scene on the train, right before Martin enters the woman's carriage, he imagines breaking in and attacking her. We then cut back to Martin before he has entered the chamber. So the attack was just his imagination. A flight of fancy.

And this imagined attack was in black-and-white. Just like all of the gothic vampire scenes...

There's also the line Martin uses (which is what Romero is actually saying): there is no magic, ever. It's all illusion. Which brings us ultimately to Martin with his syringe instead of fangs, just a mixed-up kid, a victim of the environment that's crippling him.

[JohnShaft]

Originally Posted by TheLurkingFear

There's also the line Martin uses (which is what Romero is actually saying): there is no magic, ever. It's all illusion.

Good point, I forgot about that. And yeah I hope that was what Romero intended. I mean giving Martin fangs pretty much makes him a vampire to us, but he could have had Martin not go out in the daylight, scared of religious symbols/garlic, if he'd actually wanted to impart to us that Martin really could be a vampire.
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Few slackers for MARTIN eh?

Really I think it was worth watching if you've never seen it before.

[TheLurkingFear]

Yeah Martin hasn't fared well here John!

Bunch of philistines!

I liked it anyway. Not the greatest film ever made, but has something to say I think.

[Miss Italy]

I still haven't watched it unfortunately so hard for me to comment

[Francesco Dellamorte]

I will get round to it... Honest!
If I haven't watched it by friday I will give my thoughts on what I remember of it from 20 odd years ago.