Long Years

Martin (1977)
directed by George A. Romero
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix

Martin plays more like hometown hero Romero's first film than Night of the Living Dead; where the Pittsburgh of Night stood in for the half-rural claustrophobia of any isolated zombie invasion, Martin's Braddock suburb is the strange plight of its eponymous protagonist. The old world milieu to which Martin is banished - distrusting first generation immigrants too long ingrained in their local fights and struggles to justify their actions to anyone - becomes its own Pennsylvanian parable of abandonment and betrayal, and the misery of Martin's misunderstanding is as much Braddock's story as his own. Romero clearly has great affection for this one, but its uniqueness (it is truly that) does not redeem its cynicism, just as Tom Savinini's early effects and the crew's evident kinship find no room in the bear hug of despair's embrace. Not a "vampire movie" so much as the blood on the hands of a whole city's history.