Martin | 1977 | USA | George A. Romero

One of George Romero’s most accomplished and respected works outside of his zombie canon, Martin is a postmodern take on the vampire theme with character actor John Amplas playing the titular villain. The young and extremely disturbed Martin has a compulsive desire to drink human blood, frequently drugging his victims and apologising profusely before lapping up their fluids through neat incisions. His religious uncle Cuda believes him to be a genuine vampire and accosts the young man incessantly (and ineffectively) with crucifixes and garlic. It’s only when he meets the depressed Mrs Santini that his macabre blood fixation begins to lessen, especially after they consummate their relationship through sex. Will she be his saviour or will Cuda drive a stake through his heart first? Romero referred to this film as his personal favourite and it’s not hard to see why. The DPP didn’t have the same fuzzy feeling about it and promptly had it seized for its troubling conflation of sexual pleasure with the violent inclination to drain blood.