Review of Martin (1978) by Jim E — 03 Nov 2010

Of all Romero's films, this is the one that you could actually imagine art film snobs canonizing. It has a stylistic and narrative affinity with such films as Peeping Tom and A Clockwork Orange, primarily due to the fact that the protagonist is the agent of horror, though there are other commonalities.

While Romero's more overtly political films are often seen as somewhat gauche, this is an intensely personal film whose political ideology is integrated with much more finesse into the work. I have read critics criticize Romero as lacking cinematic grace and even saying things so insulting as "he writes dialog like a 5th grader;" This film is perhaps the best proof that those critics are wrong and that George Romero knows how to make intelligent, artistically fulfilled films.