- AKA “Martin The Blood-Lover”
- Directed by George A. Romero
- Written by George A. Romero
- Stars John Amples, Lincoln Maazel, Christine Forrest, Tom Savini
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 34 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUJ5tKGTY3U
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is the story of Martin the vampire. Or is he just an unbalanced young man? We’re left wondering. It’s pretty slow moving, but still manages to be interesting and watchable.
Synopsis
A bunch of people board an overnight train. Martin is there, and he turns out the light, making his way to the restroom. He opens up a package and pulls out a syringe. He fills it with something and then picks the lock on a sleeper-car’s door. He fantasizes about the woman inside, but when he goes in, she’s in the bathroom putting on a facemask. She comes out, and he drops the syringe. They wrestle, and we notice that she’s completely lost her face cream. They argue, and he explains that he doesn’t want to hurt her with the needle. “I’m always very careful with the needles,” he soothes. He puts her to sleep, gets undressed, and then he undresses her. He slices her wrist open and gets her blood all over him as he drinks it. He then spreads around razor blades and drugs to make it look like a suicide. He cleans himself up and goes back to his own compartment as credits roll.
When he gets to Pittsburg, Martin meets up with Cuda, who says they need to take a different train. They eventually arrive at a big house in an older neighborhood. Cuda calls him ‘Nosferatu’ and says he will destroy him; but first, he shows Martin to his room. “You may come and go, but do not take people from the city!” orders Cuda. He also forbids Martin from speaking with his granddaughter. It’s all very strange.
Martin explains that he’s not Nosferatu, he’s Cuda’s cousin, Martin. Martin picks up the garlic, even taking a bite, and handles the cross, and it doesn’t bother him. “It isn’t magic. Even I know that.”
Cuda owns a small shop, and Martin is going to work for him. Martin meets Christina, Cuda’s forbidden granddaughter. Martin eats strangely at the dinner table, using a little guillotine to cut celery. He asks Christina to put her finger in there, but it’s just a magic trick. Martin shows the trick and says that there’s no real magic. Arthur comes in, and says he’s looking for work; he’s Christina’s boyfriend.
Martin delivers groceries for Cuda. One woman, Mrs. Santini, offers to give Martin a ride back to town. They stop for gas, and she talks about her husband.
Cuda tells Christina about Martin being a vampire, and she thinks the old man is crazy. She thinks Martin was raised to believe it. Cuda says Martin was born in 1892, and then he explains the family lineage. Martin is glad that she doesn’t believe in magic, but he does claim to be 84 years old.
Martin scopes out his next victim, a housewife in the suburbs. As he gets into her house, he has flashbacks to an early kill. He bursts in on the woman expecting her to be alone, but she’s naked with her secret boyfriend. Oops. “Who is that?” they both ask. Martin injects the man, but the woman won’t call 911 because he’s not supposed to be there. Martin locks the man outside and then corners the woman. When the guy gets back inside, Martin jabs him again. Finally, both of them pass out from the drugs. Martin takes the man out into the woods and drinks his blood. The flashbacks show how an angry mob with torches once came after Martin after one of his kills. He then goes back inside, cleans up the mess, and leaves the woman alone.
Cuda makes Martin go to church on Sunday, and it may be the scuzziest Catholic church you’ve ever seen. While doing some handyman stuff for Mrs. Santorini, she decides to seduce him. It doesn’t work, and Martin runs off. Cuda asks Father Howard whether he believes in demons. Father Howard talks about the movie “The Exorcist” and laughs about it. Martin flashes back to when an exorcism had been performed on him.
Cuda brings in Father Zulmas, a different old priest, one who actually knows how to do an exorcism. Unenthusiastically in English. Martin just sits there and listens until he gets up and runs away.
Cuda walks through the fog and spots Martin in a full Dracula cape and fangs. Martin just laughs at the terrified old man until Cuda hits him with his cane. Martin spits out the fake teeth and tells him that it’s just a costume.
He delivers to Mrs. Santorini, and this time he wants to go ahead with the sex. They do. She cries afterward, and Martin wonders if it’s something he did. Cuda tells Arthur about Martin, and warns him about what runs in their family line. She hears about what Cuda told him and moves out. She and Arthur are moving away, but not to worry, they won’t have children. She’s only using him to get out.
Mrs. Santorini starts seeing Martin regularly. This seems to make killing women and drinking their blood more difficult; it’s hard to pick a woman victim. Eventually, he knocks out a couple of hobos and drains them. He then breaks into a store to change clothes, and the police show up before he’s done. He runs for it, but the police pursue. He runs into the middle of a drug deal, and the dealers shoot the cops. Before long, Martin’s the last one standing.
He goes to Santorini’s house and find that she’s committed suicide. He thinks maybe that’s OK. Cuda thinks Martin killed her, even though he didn’t. Cuda stakes Martin through the heart, killing him.
Commentary
Whatever Martin uses to inject his victims with is really inefficient; it takes forever to knock them out.
Like most Romero films from the 70s this looks very grainy and low budget. The real question throughout is whether or not Martin is really a eighty-four-year-old vampire or just a messed-up teenager/serial killer. We never really find out. As Martin explains repeatedly, “The magic isn’t real.” But there is enough weirdness to make you wonder if he really could be one.
It’s pretty slow-moving and dated, but George Romero always claimed this was his favorite of his films. It’s definitely an interesting take on vampires, but it’s also right on the edge of being boring.