he's just a little guy

Review of Martin (1977) by screenqueeen: 👍 5/5

the thirteenth night in the lonesome hooptober

day 14 film 10 cats: 1*

59/100

i'm convinced this is Romero's masterpiece. Martin carries so much sorrow in every frame, you know he's weighed down by it without even speaking a word and even when we do hear him speak it betrays the torment he has been enduring his whole life. whether that is almost 20 years or 86 as he claims, it's still as real and affecting no matter how hold anyone is. no debate over whether he's a "real" vampire holds any water here. in his own understanding of what he needs, everything he says about vampirism is 100% correct.

i consider myself a vampire and what i need and want are quite different yet still correct and valid, because what i do for myself is comfortable and works for me. my lifestyle surrounding vampirism is intertwined with a deeper set of sensual & sexual appetites illustrating a fulfillment of carnal desire and not a bodily necessity. this is of course different than how Martin approaches it in his own shielded way of infantile intimacy, yet tried and true to a point for himself. i was introduced to the idea that i could just become a vampire how i see fit when i first saw DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (via the last drive-in, once i could filter out jbb's misogynist bullshit, mixed in with actual interesting biographical/historical facts surrounding the film) and VELVET VAMPIRE in the same year. i have consumed blood probably two or three times total, spread out so incredibly far that if i were Martin i would have lost control of my facilities long ago.

the most telling part of Martin's identification as vampire is the immediate sensory and trauma-triggered flashbacks of moments as he experienced them (circa 1910 according to his declared age). i can see this as a film that foretells the misreading of any and all younger generations who find themselves in something most older ones either inherently do not understand or simply refuse to. there are so many different ways you can read this film (countless! ah ah ah!) it's astounding and i look forward to reading up more on what's already out there but this is the first place i've come to.

vampirism in this case could serve as Martin's own form of autism; he suffers from something that only the routines he creates for himself can alleviate and the only way for him to grow and feel comfortable in any form of society is to respect and entertain it. no one wants to learn more about him or has questions regarding his life, not even Abby who is in a unique position to explore her natural curiosity towards him and his mannerisms.

everyone fails Martin in this film because he's seen as a novelty in almost every respect except for the one who has the power and emotional distance to deliver a final judgment. Lincoln Maazel turns in an incredible performance as Tada Cuda and having starred in the recently restored short feature THE AMUSEMENT PARK two years earlier, should be seen at all costs if you haven't. Cuda is the epitome of a blind zealot that follows a specific doctrine of religion to include vampires as phantoms that only devotion to a vengeful god could and would uncover and protect from. nothing anyone does or says sways him. it's a positioning of Dracula as the sympathetic protagonist with every odd bent against him, his Van Helsing a ruthless and unforgiving extremist with no room for compassion as long as anything that tarnishes his image can be snuffed out within his power. what this turns into is a brutally realistic film that in classic Romero fashion, uses fantastic and horrific imagery as seamless allegory to the perpetuation and expansion of bigotry towards anything unconventional or unrelatable (like the way we joke about finding a huge spider in our apartment and then setting it on fire to get rid of it and any other ones**).

i'm glad i came to this film when i did because my own personal explorations with an identity most others would find unconventional today sandwiched within identities many others already find despicable or immoral, for some others a justifiable target for enacting physical and political harm, feels very communicable with Martin's. just look at the way he carries himself through most of the film: he moves as though he expects a sudden violence or deception against his person. this is something experienced, not practiced. this is George A. Romero's most important project.

*there is no cat in a literal sense but Abby tells Martin he reminds her of a cat she had when she was younger. for some more information on people being cats or other animals check out the link in the beginning of my Hooptober list description (that link is at the top of this review : 3)

**spiders can scare the living shit out of me and i am trying to get better about this. get you a girlfriend/boyfriend/partner/significant other/etc who can deal with them for you, bonus points if they keep them as pets