Martin (1977) and some other fellows

Talking about humour transplants, let me admit that I lasted about 25 minutes into "The League of Gentlemen Apocalypse".  I did manage to watch all of "Green Street" (known in the US as "Hooligans") which was hardly my cup of tea.  We have angelic-looking Elijah Wood being thrown out of Harvard on a frame-up and escaping to England to visit his married sister, Claire Forlani.  After being fobbed-off on her football-mad brother-in-law, young Frodo learns all about street violence (hence the American title) and how to be a better man -- as if this follows.  The film was actually watchable and reasonably well put together and acted, but with an unappetizing and depressing subject.

So I'll write instead about the above little-known movie from George Romero, which I hadn't seen recently and which still holds up as one of his best.  Rather than dealing with the walking dead or zombies, this film deals with vampirism -- or not, depending on one's reading of the story.  The eponymous lead, nicely played  by John Amplas (who has appeared in only a few films) is a shy young man who truly believes that he is a 90-year old vampire.  He does in fact stalk victims to drink their blood, but he has no fangs and has no fear of sunlight, garlic or mirrors; more likely his is some form of psychological disorder, reinforced by persistant family myths.  He leaves his home to live in a depressed city area with his uncle, a nice performance by Lincoln Maazel (father of the conductor) in his only film role; he is warned that any local blood-sucking will be dealt with by the traditional stake in the heart.  His obsession with what he believes himself to be is somewhat alleviated when he starts doing "the sexy thing" with a local frustrated housewife and when he vents his fantasies on a talk-radio show, but his fate is predestined.