Review of Martin (Special Edition Two Discs)

Introduction

Martin...

Martin...

So goes the continual voice-over in some of the black and white scenes of the film.

Martin is a George A. Romero film, so you`re expecting something gory and in the horror genre. And you`re kind of right, but not totally. Martin is the story of a "vampire" kid, who actually claims to be over 80 years old. But he`s a more "modern" kind of vampire, who doesn`t need to pierce flesh with his fangs, but instead uses blades, drugs and syringes to get the blood that he needs from his victims.

He moves out to live with another family member, who thinks he can conquer this evil, but promises that he won`t tolerate any vampire like behaviour.

Video

A new 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer which looks ok, except for the fact that it`s in 1.85:1. It`s not supposed to be, because it was shot on 16mm film, and (according to Romero anyway) was never meant to be shown in any other format.

If you can get over that (and purists might not want to) then the film looks good in places, not bad in others. It won`t look much better unless anyone spends lots of money on a super mega restoration.

To comment on how awful the blood looks in the film would be like shooting fish in a barrel, so I`ll pass.

Audio

A DD2.0 stereo soundtrack or a remixed DD5.1 soundtrack are on offer. Once again the DD5.1 remix is subtle (which is my euphemism for "they haven`t really bothered"). There`s really very little for any of your speakers to do, despite the remix.

The soundtrack itself sounds like Pertwee era Dr Who, I was particularly reminded of The Ambassadors of Death.

Features

There`s a commentary on disc 1, featuring George A. Romero, Richard Rubinstein (producer), Donald Rubinstein (composer), Tom Savini and also the director of photography. They all have a lot to say but there are also some long silent gaps. If you liked the film, you`ll enjoy this.

The rest of the extras are on the second disc, so you`ll be expecting a lot, as they are split off onto another disc. But there are only around 12 minutes in total which is a total rip off and waste of a DVD!

"Making Martin", is a short featurette featuring interviews with George A. Romero and other players in the film. Short and briefly interesting. There are also tv spots, a trailer and some radio adverts along with a few stills.

Conclusion

A tedious and dull film comes to us on a bit of a rip off 2 disc "special edition". The film is so slow and plodding, and I really couldn`t care less what happens to Martin. But the total car crash ending really gives you a feeling of being ripped off, much like if you were to buy a 2 disc special edition that has much less content than many normal 1 disc editions of films!

I did think that a "vampire with modern ways" type film might be quite interesting, but I was stifling yawns not long after the opening credits. Fans of the film might also be upset with this disc and its framing of the film, you might want to look for other editions. If you weren`t worried by such matters, then the film looks and sounds ok, but this could all have been put on 1 disc.

Not very interesting, not very scary.

Tedious film, naughty exploitative DVD.