martin
George A. Romero offers us an original take on the vampire story, John Amplas plays Martin, a disturbed young man who believes that he is actually a vampire. He is a painfully shy loner who cannot connect to people and resorts to using razor blades and hyperdermic needles to draw blood from young women. Romero cleverly plays with the vampire myths and uses what appear to be flashbacks or dream sequences to suggest that Martin is mentally ill and suffers from hallucinations. Overshadowed by his zombie movies, Martin is vastly underrated and forgotten as one of Romero's greatest movies. The film explores issues of sexual frustration and inadequacy along with the romanticization of evil. It is also a self-reflexive film that addresses the tropes and stereotypes of the vampire genre.