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| Monster Cereal Week 2: Frankenberry. I have always found his fingernails to be utterly disturbing. Also, his head looks like a butt.
Twas movie and game night again with pals Jack and Casey. We played more of zombie board game Last Night on Earth, this time choosing a couple of different scenarios to try. "Escape in the Truck" seemed to be the most popular one, which has the heroes searching for gasoline and keys in order to fuel up the truck and leave the zombie-infested town behind. It's fun stuff. I liked the co-op aspect and strategy while playing as a hero this time out.
Martin (1976) directed by George A. Romero
John Amplas is going to be a guest at next month's Flint Horror Con, so of course we've got to watch this film; Jack more so than me, as he'll be hosting the Q&A panel with Amplas at the con. Not that re-watching Martin is any kind of hardship. It remains my second favorite vampire movie (Near Dark is still #1 to me) and is easily Romero's best non-zombie film.
I don't know if I have much more to say on the film beyond what I wrote five years ago, but I did begin to wonder about Martin's family. It seems as though, probably for centuries, Martin's family line has been plagued by some sort of condition similar to autism, but also with a streak of violence in it. In the old country, long ago, whoever was born with this condition first was labeled a vampire by his superstitious family. Thereafter, anyone in the family exhibiting similar symptoms would be told over and over again as they grew up that they were suffering from a vampiric curse on the family. This family mythology is so strong, it even resists the modern, scientific age. While Martin continual states that there is no such thing as magic -- showing Cuda that the traditional defenses against vampires mean nothing to him -- he still irrationally believes himself to be a vampire who needs blood to survive. Which, I think, is a part of what Romero is trying to say. Tradition is a strong thing, and may control how you see yourself and the world even if you believe yourself to be an otherwise rational being.
Watched: DVD from Anchor Bay
 (which is in Romero's preferred 4:3 aspect ratio). |
27 September 2013
September 27th
Week 2 begins! That calls for starting things out right, with a nutritious bowl of sugar-infused grains sweetened with marshmellows. Yum.
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"Martin" is always my favorite Romero film, until I remember "Dawn of the Dead" exists. "Martin" is definitely the filmmaker's most poetic, elegant, and perhaps haunting picture. It would have been nice to see him dip his toes into slow-paced character studies a little more during his best creative period.
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