MARTIN (1976)

Director: George A. Romero

Writer: George A. Romero

Producer: Richard P. Rubinstein

Cast: John Amplas, Lincoln Maazel, Christine Forrest, Elyane Nadeau, Tom Savini, Sarah Venable, Fran Middleton, Roger Caine (as Al Levitsky), George A. Romero, James Roy, J. Clifford Forrest, Jr., Robert Ogden, Donna Siegel, Donaldo Soviero, Albert J. Shmaus, Lillian Shmaus, Frances Mazzoni, Vincent D. Survinski, Regis Survinski, Clayton McKinnon, Tony Buba, Pasquale Buba, Tony Pantanella, Harvey Eger, Tom Weber, Douglas Serene, Robert Barner, Stephen Fergelic, Jeanne Serene, Ingeborg Forrest, Carol McCloskey, Nicholas Mastandrea, John Sozansky, (and uncredited cast members) Richard P. Rubinstein, Michael Gornick, Katherine Kolbert 

Martin (John Amplas) is a teenager sent to live with his cousin Tateh Cuda (Lincoln Maazel) in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania borough of Braddock. Elderly Cuda considers Martin the family shame and calls him “nosferatu.” While he contests Cuda’s old-world vampire beliefs, young Martin also believes himself to actually be 84 years old and kills to drink his victims’ blood. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

Pittsburgh filmmaker George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) was the cult hit that shocked its audiences and gave the world the horror trope of the apocalyptic cannibal zombie contagion. He made four more interesting feature films before he would continue his living dead series. Martin was the last of this quartet of films, and it is the one that was the most critically successful. It was a favorite of Romero’s and remains a favorite of mine, as well.

Writer-director Romero depicts the mundane and dreary world this story takes place in with interesting shot choices. He uses editing that punches up tension and anticipation in scenes that often lead to surprising and sometimes funny reveals. Romero is always contrasting the threat of Martin and audience expectations of vampire situations with the dismal reality of the modern world.

John Amplas is perfectly cast as the sympathetic menace Martin. Despite his deadly cunning, he has a simple and withdrawn demeanor. He appears to be nothing more than a lonely and socially impaired teenager that receives no compassion from Tateh Cuda, the old relative that has become his guardian. However, Martin observes things with a blunt and perceptive honesty. As an outsider he perceives things as they really are and not as people would have them. 

Romero also toys with our perceptions and expectations regarding Martin. We empathize with the family plight of this young man, though we have seen him commit murder. Martin refutes the “magic” elements of vampire lore, yet he also claims to be 84 years old. This ambiguity removes the story from genre traditions to create a real world intimacy and uncertainty with the audience. While there is no doubt that Martin’s murderous behavior should be stopped, we are left to wonder how he became so dangerous. Is Martin truly a vampire through no fault of his own? Has he been warped by family superstition? Is he just a psychosexual killer sating a sick compulsion? 

One of the most interesting aspects to this movie is Martin calling into a talk radio show. He becomes a popular and recurring gimmick as an anonymous and self-proclaimed vampire. Many of his on-air conversations play out over other scenes in the film that make for effective and poignant storytelling. To the audiences of the radio show and this film, Martin explains his vampire life. This is taken as fun hokum by the show’s patronizing host, but it serves as a modern confessional outlet for Martin. It is interesting to contrast it with the devout Catholicism of his stern, unsympathetic cousin and guardian Cuda. There is no confessional comfort for Martin to be found in that religious faith. 

Director Romero himself has a small and funny role as the modern Catholic priest invited to dinner at Cuda’s household. The generation gap seems to contribute to the lack of resolution that religion can provide in this situation. The elder Cuda can’t get the kind of religious simpatico he is looking for from the much younger priest. His church having been destroyed in a fire and the congregation holding services in a substitute location while funds are sought for reconstruction further stresses religious impotence. 

Ineffectual religious faith and ritual are just some of the many values dying in the world of Martin. We see a lack of communication and trust between the old and the young, infidelity and incompatibility in relationships, a decline in civility resulting in public harassment, depressed economic circumstances, derelicts, and street crime. Martin’s victims are the fastest casualties in a decaying society. 

Martin was the debut of Tom Savini in Romero’s productions. Savini not only has a role as Arthur, the boyfriend to Cuda’s granddaughter Christina (Christine Forrest), he also provided the make-up effects and some stunt work. His splattery ingenuity in Romero’s next film, Dawn of the Dead (1978), would make Tom Savini the go-to guy for gore in the '80s. 

Romero’s future wife Christine Forrest gives a nice and naturalistic performance. Her Christina is a friendly relative to Martin that helps to humanize him to us. They are both in unhappy family and life circumstances. 

The only other worthwhile relationship Martin has is with the sexy and unhappy housewife Abby Santini (Elyane Nadeau in her only movie role). Martin’s affair with Abby provides the emotional fulfillment that seems to be the only hope he has of getting past his blood lust. 

Complimented by Donald Rubinstein’s haunting score, George A. Romero gives us a great and unique horror film full of melancholy, ambiguity, and gritty humility. In our private moments, many of us can see shades of Martin and his bleak world in our own lives.

THINK FAST, MR. MOTO (1937)

Director: Norman Foster

Writers: Howard Ellis Smith, Norman Foster, Wyllis Cooper (uncredited), Charles Kenyon (uncredited), J. P. Marquand (based on his original story)

Producer: Sol M. Wurtzel

Cast: Peter Lorre, Thomas Beck, Virginia Field, Sig Ruman, Murray Kinnell, John Rogers, Lotus Long, J. Carrol Naish, Geoge Cooper, Frederick Vogeding, George Hassell, Bert Roach, Charles Tannen, Howard Wilson 

Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) is a small, soft-spoken, Japanese gentleman that befriends Bob Hitchings, Jr. (Thomas Beck), aboard a steamship leaving San Francisco and bound for Shanghai, China. Hitchings is the son of the owner of the steamship line that is being used by smugglers. Young Hitchings has been sent by his father to look into the problem at the Hitchings Shanghai branch. Mr. Moto also accompanies young Hitchings to Shanghai. Hitchings is unaware of Mr. Moto’s interest in this smuggling operation and Moto’s motives are unknown. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

American author John P. Marquand wrote a series of stories for The Saturday Evening Post about mystery and intrigue in foreign locales featuring the Japanese secret agent Mr. Moto. In those stories Moto remained an enigmatic presence. The tales were not told from Moto’s perspective but from the viewpoint of American characters somehow entangled in trouble and romance in exotic places. Moto was a mysterious figure drifting in and out of the narrative to ultimately help save the day.

20th Century Fox was already enjoying great success with their Charlie Chan film series. Since the Mr. Moto stories were very popular, Fox must have thought that another Asian hero in another series of mystery films would go over just fine. However, their eight Mr. Moto films were very different from the Chan series. In contrast to a friendly police detective hero with a large family of offspring, Mr. Moto is a mysterious loner with a vague and changing affiliation to organizations that he operates for. In the film series, Mr. Moto is not an agent for the government of Japan but an international detective. In this first Moto film, he refers to his detective work as a hobby while conducting an investigation on behalf of the Japanese trading company he manages. In the later films, Moto is an agent of Interpol.

Hungarian actor Peter Lorre had earned a lot of accolades for his talent. However, when he arrived at Fox the studio did not seem to know just what to do with this distinctive personality. Starring Lorre in a B-film series may have seemed like a professional dead end, but the Moto films proved to be very popular. It is Lorre’s presence that elevates these films and makes them the great fun that they are. Lorre’s Mr. Moto is a hero you can believe in because he is so unusual. Like Sherlock Holmes or Tarzan, it requires a character with a very offbeat background and personality to be capable of the extraordinary feats and behavior that are required in these adventures. I do not believe for one minute in the derring-do, steely nerve, and lightning-quick aptitude of the generic and conceited louts that so many contrived and bloated action movies now pass off as heroes. Those snarky clowns may be goal-oriented to achieve what society deems success, but they demonstrate with every contemporary catch phrase that they are never going to have the exceptional character to become heroic in ability or motivation.

Think Fast, Mr. Moto is the first of the eight Moto films starring Peter Lorre. It is interesting to realize that for most of this story we never really know what Mr. Moto is after. He seems mild-mannered and pleasant, but is revealed early on to be capable of stealth and violence. In addition to being a master of disguise and jiu-jitsu, he is bilingual, demonstrates incredible sleight-of-hand dexterity with cards, and can instruct a bartender how to mix a hangover cure (I really ought to write that one down). Moto’s array of talents is not only impressive and intriguing; it is believable due to the unique dynamic of Peter Lorre in this role. His Mr. Moto is a character unlike any other. It is only someone this unusual that could achieve so much prowess and intelligence.

Nowadays, we take for granted the brutality and cold-blooded behavior in our favorite movie heroes. But this was not something that Sean Connery’s James Bond or Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry pioneered, though they both were controversial in their day. In this very first Mr. Moto adventure, we are presented with a hero that will kill without hesitation or regret. It is not done with a sense of bloodthirsty machismo, but just as a matter of necessity required to survive and accomplish his mission. Indeed, a title appropriate to many installments in this series would be Don’t Mess with Mr. Moto. 

The Mr. Moto films were distinct from their prose source by making the Mr. Moto character much more central to the stories. They wisely still maintained Moto’s mystique. Usually we are introduced to Moto already in the midst of his mission, and we have to get brought up to speed in later scenes to find out just what Moto is after. In this first film of the series, we are not even sure if Moto’s motives are just. Mr. Moto keeps his adversaries and his audience guessing. 

In addition to the Mr. Moto action and intrigue, there is the romance provided by handsome Thomas Beck, as Bob Hitchings, Jr., and beautiful Virginia Field, as Gloria Danton. Beck is a likable enough presence that doesn’t wear out his welcome and ogling Field is always a pleasure. Both Thomas Beck and villain Sig Ruman would return as different characters in the next Moto film. Virginia Field starred as two other characters in two later entries of the series. 

Speaking of romance and returning performers, Lotus Long portrays a switchboard operator that Mr. Moto seems to put the moves on. It turns out she is some sort of operative working with Moto on this case. Later billed as Karen Sorrell, Long would portray another similar character in Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938). 

I was completely won over with Peter Lorre and Mr. Moto with the very first Moto film I saw. Here was a formidable character with the humility, humor, intelligence, and ability that make him likable and intriguing. His stories were brisk entertainments that were free of the artifice and posturing of the modern action movie. Mr. Moto and his adventures are both exotic and believable. That is what makes them fun.

TERROR TRAIN (1980)

Director: Roger Spottiswoode

Writers: T.Y. Drake, Daniel Grodnik (uncredited), Judith Rascoe (uncredited)

Producer: Harold Greenberg

Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Johnson, Hart Bochner, Timothy Webber, Sandee Currie, Derek McKinnon, Joy Bouschel, Vanity (as D.D. Winters), David Copperfield, Anthony Sherwood, Howard Busgang, Greg Swanson, Steve Michaels, Donald Lamoureux, Charles Biddles, Sr., Elizabeth Cholette, Thom Haverstock, Peter Feingold, Richard Weinstein, John Busby, Andrea Kenyon, Roland Nincheri, Elaine Lakeman, Gerald Eastman, Charles Biddles, Jr., Nadia Rona, Larry Cohen, Brenda Gagnier, Phil Albert 

At a New Year’s Eve college fraternity party, freshman Kenny Hampson (Derek McKinnon) is traumatized by a gruesome prank played on him by his fraternity brothers. Three years later, the same college pranksters are hosting their last big party on New Year’s Eve aboard an old steam engine train. Among the many masked and costumed students, a killer moves about unnoticed by acquiring new disguises from each new victim. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

1978’s Halloween initiated the slasher film craze and stardom for Jamie Lee Curtis as its heroine. She soon appeared in a rapid succession of horror films that would be assured of success by her very welcome presence in them. Terror Train is one of those released just before the bloody wave of slasher flicks would crest the following year.

This film was early enough in the trend that it still felt fresh, even as it hit all the bases that the slasher film would usually run through: There is a nasty tragedy that is the root cause of the murderous mayhem years later, the horror is linked to a holiday, the killer is masked, most of the victims are young adults, and the bodies are bloody.

What really sets Terror Train apart is its setting. The bulk of the story occurring during a masquerade party aboard a passenger train traveling through an isolated winter wilderness makes for an interesting situation. Once it is apparent that there is a murderer about, the conductor can’t just call the cops and the kids can’t just flee for home. Everyone is in the middle of nowhere during freezing winter weather. They all need to stay on that train and get back to civilization. 

Despite its nasty subject matter, Terror Train is given pretty classy treatment. Suspense is given as much attention as the jump scares. The lighting and cinematography create a lot of atmosphere and the editing effectively displays the psychological trauma suffered by the killer. 

Jamie Lee Curtis makes for the likable lead in a cast of simple characters that are only revealed by how they clown around or conflict with each other during just two nights: the New Year’s Eve party college pledge prank that opens the film and another New Year’s Eve party aboard the train three years later. That is really all that is needed to make this story work within its novel setting as people get picked off one-by-one. 

The film’s dramatic friction is provided by Curits’ character Alana. She resents that her boyfriend Mo (Timothy Webber) remains friends with Doc (Hart Bochner) who masterminded the nasty prank that kicks off the story. She is also probably feeling guilty because of the role she played in that scheme. Alana may be the heroine of this film, yet she is not completely blameless. 

Despite the fact that Mo pals around with that asshole Doc (soon to major in proctology?), you have to admire this pre-med student’s willpower as Mo tries to avoid playing doctor with the drunk and curvy exhibitionist “Pet” (Joy Boushel). 

Other notable cast members are veteran actor Ben Johnson as the train conductor, magician David Copperfield as the mysterious magician providing party entertainment, and Sandee Currie as Alana’s leggy best friend Mitchy. Playing another coed named Merry is D.D. Winters who would gain fame in the '80s as the pop music star Vanity. 

Terror Train was the directing debut for former film editor Roger Spottiswoode. Although he is blessed with cinematographer John Alcott, Spottiswoode should be credited with making a very polished looking film that set a pretty high bar for the many other slasher films to come. Spottiswoode would go on to direct big-budget mainstream fare such as the Pierce Brosnan/James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and the Arnold Schwarzenegger starring sci-fi flick The 6th Day (2000). 

So if you are as morbid as this flashback fanatic, ringing in the New Year aboard Terror Train should be an easy resolution for us all to follow through on. Just don’t get blood in my bubbly. Cheers!