Program Note
George A. Romero would publicly point out Martin as his favorite of his own works. In addition to his zombie films in which the dead return to life in a strange way, he also depicted the world of vampires in some movies. Martin is one of them. It is shocking from the beginning. A young man named Martin (played by John Amplas) boards a train and injects something into a woman sitting alone in the train. He shows sexually perverse behavior, and then sucks her blood. Believing himself to be a vampire, Martin gains immortality in exchange for someone’s life. Having discovered himself to be different from others, he even calls a radio program to talk about his mind. Romero initially planned to make Martin as a black-and-white film, but ended up making only a few monochrome scenes representing Martin’s daydreams, reminiscence, and imaginative thoughts. Those scenes that do not allow clear interpretation are what made this film a little stranger. Instead of emphasizing the conflict between humans and vampires, this film shows that Martin was the victim of misunderstanding and lead to tragedy, and that the humans who saw him as a devil were misjudging him. (JEONG Ji-hye)