{"id":70621,"date":"2021-03-20T13:19:12","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T20:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=70621"},"modified":"2021-03-29T16:47:03","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T23:47:03","slug":"martin-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=70621","title":{"rendered":"Martin (1977)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Things only <em>seem<\/em> to be magic; there is no real magic, ever.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Poster-200x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-70623\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Poster-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Poster-684x1024.png 684w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Poster-86x128.png 86w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Poster-180x270.png 180w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Poster.png 745w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen a young man (John Amplas) who&#8217;s convinced he&#8217;s a vampire goes to live with his great-uncle (Lincoln Maazel) &#8212; who refers to Martin (Amplas) as &#8220;Nosferatu&#8221; &#8212; and cousin (Christine Forrest), he continues to carry out his carefully plotted blood-attacks, including invading the home of a woman (Sara Venable) having a liaison with her lover (Al Levitsky), and a lonely housewife (Elyane Nadeau) eager to start an affair with Martin.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>George Romero Films<\/li>\n<li>Horror Films<\/li>\n<li>Vampires <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nGeorge Romero&#8217;s fifth feature-length film &#8212; after debuting with <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13027\"><em>Night of the Living Dead<\/em> (1968)<\/a>, then making <em>There&#8217;s Always Vanilla<\/em> (1971) [not listed in Peary&#8217;s <em>GFTFF<\/em>], <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=69667\"><em>Jack&#8217;s Wife \/ Season of the Witch <\/em> (1972)<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4598\"><em>The Crazies \/ Code Name: Trixie <\/em> (1973)<\/a> &#8212; was this psychological horror film focusing on the logistics of vampirism (are they really repelled by garlic and crosses?), and questioning whether the &#8220;lust for blood&#8221; is actually all in the vampire&#8217;s mind (or truly a curse). Amplas makes a surprisingly compelling and sympathetic lead, convincingly portraying someone simultaneously young and &#8220;virginal&#8221;, <em>and<\/em> a decades-old misfit who has figured out what he believes to be the least invasive way to satisfy his needs (by quickly sedating his victims before attacking them). <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Syringe.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Syringe.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-70751\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Syringe.png 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Syringe-300x165.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Syringe-128x70.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Syringe-491x270.png 491w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Through atmospheric black-and-white flashbacks, we get glimpses of Martin&#8217;s desire for romance and intimacy &#8212; along with the inevitable bloodshed that ensues. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Flashback.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Flashback.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-70753\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Flashback.png 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Flashback-300x165.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Flashback-128x70.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Flashback-491x270.png 491w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The scene in which Martin invades the home of a housewife (Venable) &#8212; assuming he&#8217;s &#8220;safe&#8221; to seduce her since he&#8217;s just watched her husband drive away for a trip, then finding out there&#8217;s a man in the house after all &#8212; is expertly directed, showing off Martin&#8217;s agility and quickness-of-mind. Only once Martin decides he wants to try to live a more &#8220;human&#8221; life do his faculties begin to fail him. While it&#8217;s far from perfect and occasionally clunky, enough works about this low-budget thriller (purportedly Romero&#8217;s personal favorite) to recommend it for one-time viewing by all film fanatics. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>John Amplas as Martin<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Amplas2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Amplas2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-70725\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Amplas2.png 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Amplas2-300x165.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Amplas2-128x70.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Amplas2-491x270.png 491w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Good use of Pittsburgh location shooting<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Location.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Location.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-70726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Location.png 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Location-300x165.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Location-128x70.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Location-491x270.png 491w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Creative direction<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Home-Invasion.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Home-Invasion.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-70727\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Home-Invasion.png 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Home-Invasion-300x165.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Home-Invasion-128x70.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Home-Invasion-491x270.png 491w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Direction.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Direction.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-70625\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Direction.png 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Direction-300x165.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Direction-128x70.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Martin-Direction-491x270.png 491w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Donald Rubinstein&#8217;s highly evocative score<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, once, as a most unusual vampire flick. Listed as a Cult Movie, a Personal Recommendation, and a Sleeper in the back of Peary&#8217;s book, and discussed at length in Peary&#8217;s <em>Cult Movies 3<\/em> book.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0077914\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moriareviews.com\/horror\/martin-1976.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.combustiblecelluloid.com\/classic\/martin.shtml\">Combustible Celluloid Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Things only seem to be magic; there is no real magic, ever.&#8221; Synopsis: When a young man (John Amplas) who&#8217;s convinced he&#8217;s a vampire goes to live with his great-uncle (Lincoln Maazel) &#8212; who refers to Martin (Amplas) as &#8220;Nosferatu&#8221; &#8212; and cousin (Christine Forrest), he continues to carry out his carefully plotted blood-attacks, including invading the home of a woman (Sara Venable) having a liaison with her lover (Al Levitsky), and a lonely housewife (Elyane Nadeau) eager to start&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=70621\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70621"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70914,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70621\/revisions\/70914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}