What makes a vampire film?

If our supposed vampire likes the taste of blood, but doesn't have any supernatural abilities,

are they still vampires? What if they don't bite their victims, but instead cut them

with a razor blade? Or what if the quote unquote vampire at the centre of a horror movie

appears supernatural, but could also all be a figment of our protagonists imagination?

Where does the vampire movie end, and the psychological horror begin?

Throughout the 1970s, with the vampire movie already being such a well-established subgenre,

American indie directors were having fun posing these questions and subverting the

vampire tropes. Two films in particular, one in 1971 directed by John Hancock, the other

by George Romero in 1977, proved that even outside of the classic gothic tradition,

there was still plenty of life left in the subgenre.

Join me as we continue exploring the evolution of the vampire, and we discuss let's scare

Jessica to death, and George Romero's Martin.

Welcome back to the evolution of horror. My name is Mike Munter, and as ever, I am your

host. If you're tuning in for the first time, then welcome. In this podcast, we explore

and dissect the history and the evolution of the horror genre by looking at particular

subgenre as one series at a time. We are currently in the middle of our eighth season exploring

the evolution of the vampire, and this is part 11. This week's episode is sponsored

by $20 Patreon subscriber Ian Thompson, and in this week's episode, as that intro suggested,

we are going to be looking at two incredible indie American vampire movies from the 70s,

Martin from 1977, and let's scare Jessica to death from 1971. Both of these discussions

will be spoilerific, both movies are genuinely brilliant, give them both a watch before

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