When is a vampire movie ever just about vampirism? Well never. Some are focused on the battle between modernity and tradition (Hammers DRACULA), some are homoerotic tales of longing (Anne Rice INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE) and a scant few are, as the director George Romero himself puts it, about rape. MARTIN is about rape. Its about abuse. Its about penetration. Its about as good a film you are likely to get. So good infact, all and indeed, sudry who love there physical media, have been waiting for this Second Sight film to appear on our shelves. Its been delayed (due to the print being drgraded) and then Second Sight needed more time to get it all in a row and the ladies, well tranqualised and drained…I guess. What I will say is that, the wait is over and for once, it was truly worth that slow clock tick.

Martin (John Amplas) is a troubled young man. He believes himself to be an 84 year old with a taste blood. A vampire to you and his weirdly Von Helsing type grandfather cousin off spring with a religious bent Tateh (Lincoln Maazel). He has been sent to live with them in Pennsylvania due to a fear that his family have, he is a devil and likely, a blood sucking fiend. This place he has been sent to is small town, nowhere and if he tries any funny stuff, its the end for him. His blood lut is not to be kept under guard though. The drip, drip, drip of his own life force forbides it and it urges him on to make friends with a lonely housewife (Elayne Nadeau). But the problem as always, is family gets in the mix and his cousin becomes convinced that the young man is actually Nosferatu. This meaning the only solution is a steak…and not a medium rare one…

So MARTIN is Romero at his best and is for me, his masterpiece. Second Sight have both accepted this and acknowledged that this deserves a real grandstand approach. First to the 35mm dupe negative supervised and approved by Director of Photography Michael Gornick. 4K can over or underserve a film. With some (GONE WITH THE WIND) it became a little surreal and others its a little drained of life. Here it is the latter. The stock was always a little washed out tonely but it has reclaimed it from time here. The colour correction is key to this. Accepting the grain leeched light and so making the very best of it. There is two very well trodden commentaries that are great and have been around. Then two really good explorations of themes commentaries. The first from Travis Crawford is delightfully energetic. He wants us to explore the surrounds and the Romero unpacking of troupes. In Ellingers, there is a sense that she is sage like taking us on a journey through the films Vampirism. What it means and why, importantly, why we should care. I was less enamored by the talking heads or the location tour that, though very compelling for some, left me behind. New And Used Furniture: a short film by Tony Buba, is very good indeed.

OUT 27th MARCH

Martin Limited Edition 4K UHD & Blu-ray

Special Features 

• A Second Sight Films 4K scan and restoration of a 35mm dupe negative supervised and approved by Director of Photography Michael Gornick
• 4K UHD and Blu-ray discs both including bonus features
• UHD presented in HDR10+
• Audio commentary by George A Romero, John Amplas and Tom Savini
• Audio commentary by George A Romero, Richard P Rubinstein, Tom Savini, Michael Gornick and Donald Rubinstein
• A new audio commentary by Travis Crawford
• A new audio commentary by Kat Ellinger
• Taste the Blood of Martin: A new feature-length documentary including location tour
• Scoring the Shadows: A new interview with composer Donald Rubinstein
• J Roy – New And Used Furniture: a short film by Tony Buba
• Making Martin: A Recounting
• Trailers, TV and radio spots

Limited Edition Contents

• Rigid slipcase with original classic artwork
• 108 page book with new essays by Daniel Bird, Miranda Corcoran, Travis Crawford, Heather Drain, Kat Ellinger, Andrew Graves, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Elena Lazic, , Stephen Thrower, Jon Towlson, Simon Ward and Tony Williams plus rare stills and behind-the-scenes images
• Original Soundtrack CD by Donald Rubinstein
• 5 collectors’ art cards illustrated by Adam Stothard