Forget Twilight, George Romero's Eeriest Vampire Movie Banned in UK Got 4K Release

Summary:

• George Romero is best known for films like Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, but the director's own favorite project is the vampire horror movie Martin.
• Martin received a 4K release in 2023, which not only brings attention to an underrated classic, but also includes additional material on the making of the film.
• The movie follows Martin, who believes he is a vampire and drinks blood, but falls in love with a married woman, which strains his relationship with his cousin.

Last year was an important one for all fans of George A. Romero. It was the 65th and 55th anniversary of the director's two most popular films. In 1968, his Night of the Living Dead was released, setting a new standard for zombie movies.

In 1978, Dawn of the Dead premiered, another cult horror film about walking corpses. However, Romero's legacy is much more diverse than it first appears.

In the mid-70s, Romero wrote a screenplay about an ancient vampire trying to adapt to modern life. He planned the film as an exploration of the dark and often unpleasant sides of the human personality.

Martin is One of the Most Tragic Vampire Horror Movies

Romero managed to get a modest budget and assembled a small but very professional team. Filming began in the summer of 1976, and by this time the concept of the film had changed slightly.

Romero made the "vampire" aspects of the plot more ambiguous. The result is one of the most profound and tragic films about vampires, and Romero's own favorite project – Martin.

George Romero’s Movie Got a 4K Release

Martin got a 4K release in 2023, and it is a real treat for fans of the horror genre, not only bringing the nearly 50-year-old film to life, but also revealing previously unknown details.

It includes audio commentary from both Romero himself and other members of the production team, who share insights into the making of the underrated horror classic.

What is Martin About?

The main character Martin is an unsociable and dreamy young man who goes to live with his elderly cousin. The guy gets a roof over his head and starts working as a courier in a local store. At night he wanders around, attacks women and drinks blood because he thinks he is a vampire.

The cousin also believes that Martin is a vampire and regularly tries to perform an exorcism on him. The situation in the family worsens after Martin starts an affair with a married woman, forgetting about the blood-sucking for a while, but then realizes that he can't live without it.

Martin went almost unnoticed at the box office back in 1977, but traces of its lasting influence are still easy to see. Just as Romero reinvented the zombie in Night of the Living Dead, in Martin he showed the vampire outside the usual formula of seducer or monster, portraying him as a real person addicted to his obsessive fantasies.

And another reason to watch this masterpiece – in the UK, during the video nasty panic, the movie was banned under Section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959.