"Freak, rapist asshole!" AKA Martin

I just watched George A Romero's 1977 film 'Martin'. It's a very different and clever take on the vampire genre and rather ambiguous. Is he a real vampire or just a really messed up kid? Either seems possible. He's definitely not the vampire of classic folklore though. Garlic, crosses and sunlight don't affect him and he doesn't have the hypnotic charm of Hollywood vamps. There's no fangs or gothicness, just a grungy kid with a bag full of hypodermic needles and drugs to subdue his victims and razorblades to drink their blood. But Martin explains: 

"Things only seem to be magic. There is no real magic. There's no real magic ever."

I found that to be the most upsetting part of the film. Magic is real! I Believe! And Tinkerbell can live forever now...

This film lacks the supernatural side of fantasy that I so adore but it still retains the sexual element of vampirism which has been evident in all tellings of the vampire tale. It's all very rapey as he admits: 

 I've been much too shy to ever do the sexy stuff. I mean, do it with someone who's awake. Someday maybe I'll get to do it - awake - without the blood part. 

It reminds me of the scene in the 1979 Nosferatu (not least because his Cousin Cuda keeps hissing "Nosferatu!" at him) where Count Dracula gets all gropey and rapey with the innocent Lucy. That's probably unconscious (geddit? The girls were unconscious too ;P) intertextuality but an obvious self-conscious bit of intertextuality was by George A Romero himself playing a young priest saying he doesn't believe in possessions and demons but enjoyed watching 'The Exorcist' and then in a later scene Cuda brings in an old priest to perform an exorcism on Martin in a manner very reminiscent of the one in said film.

I really enjoyed this film but I couldn't help feeling it was a bit dated. The special effects for example were terrible! The blood just looked like a melting crayon which hindered any chance of horror or alarm it just made me laugh. Despite it feeling dated I also think it was ahead of it's time. I could really imagine the film being made now. I thought 'Daybreakers' was a different take on the vampire genre but Martin wins.  Romero was once again quite prophetic as with his 'Dawn of the Dead' which seemed a satirical look at society becoming commercial zombies now everyone seems to want to become vampires to make out with Edward Cullen *sighs with disgust*. So I really think they should remake this film though they'd probably just have Martin being a Marilyn Manson fan goth (coz we all go around shooting and biting people *rolls eyes*) but they should have him as a silly Twilight obsessed teenage girl haha xD




EDIT. Apparently producer Richard P. Rubinstein is prepping a new version of Martin but whether is it a remake or a sequel or even if it will actually go ahead is as yet unknown.