How did he do it? How did George Romero make not one, but two masterpieces in one year?! Some may not like Martin as much as I do, but this movie resonated with me so much when I first saw it. I remember the days of discovering old school horror movies by the legends of the genre, such as Carpenter, Craven, Argento, Romero... Such a fun time to be alive!

This unconventional family drama is disguised as a vampire movie, but it's all about the writing. His first cut was about three hours long, so wtf was that going to be about? Probably the black and white "flashback" segments, fleshed out to the max?

Either way, I think it's important that a director can embelish his story to the point where he has to omit parts in order to convey a tighter paced story. Then again, there are certain movies like Dawn of the Dead that should never end. Romero could have probably made that into a tv show, because he was very hands on with his movies, doing multiple things like writing, directing, editing, etc. He put a lot of detail into those early movies of his, and it shows. I always found Martin to be one of Romero's most intricate movies.

John Amplas is an interesting guy, but I haven't seen much out of him. He has bit parts in other Romero movies, like the skeleton in Creepshow's "Father's Day" segment, a gang member in the swat opening of Dawn of the Dead, a mime in Knightriders, doctor Fisher in Day of the Dead, and then a villain John Russo's "Midnight". Plus, his imdb pic is the coolest fucking thing ever: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0025355/ I still need to see Toxic Zombies, also.

The gloomy/angelic score is good, I love the grim ultra-70s look of it, and I love the cast. They're all great, including the crazy old man Cuda, who kind of looks like the KFC guy, only angry.

One of the great things about these reputable horror directors' earlier films is that they would all have their regulars, and they would always work well together. I think it's important for directors to get these dynamics ironed out so they can pump out cool movies one after the other.

Like the other aforementioned classic directors out there, Romero had his regulars, and they're awesome. Tom Savini has a decent role, and he also doesn't have a mustache. Weird seeing him without his regular facial hair. His character Arthur is banging Romero's then wife Christine Forrest's character "Christine". Plus, that old guy who always shoots the wrong guy in zombie movies like Night of the Living Dead and Flesheater is there at the beginning on the train. Apparently, Lincoln Maazel who plays Cuda is in Romero's lost movie "The Amusement Park", which I hope gets a release date soon. That movie sounds awesome.

Martin, though? Martin is the vampire masterpiece of a man whose career is known for zombies, which is to say it's overlooked by a lot of people, and I think that's a shame. Then again, Martin is only a small story about a family suffering from inherited madness, but the execution is quite perfect, in my opinion.

There was a period where I was obsessed with this movie. I'd make time to watch it ever few weeks. I miss the days when I could zone out to the latest (vintage) horror titles I could find. Somehow, it doesn't really happen that way anymore. I watch these once favorites less and less often, and I guess it's because I burn out, but then again, there aren't many movies that can affect an up-and-coming horror fan as much as the pioneers who basically invented the genre. Martin has always been one of my favorites.