[Tommy Jarvis]

Martin 1977 ★★★½

Martin is a bit of a mean spirited horror from the late George Romero.

At the start, Martin goes to live with his uncle, a god fearing loon who sticks with his delusions, even thugh Martin at two occasions shows him how this is nonsense (It's just a costume). He keeps thinking that Martin is some kind of demon and at one point even has an attempt at an exorcism. An attitude that leads to Martin's sad demise.

Not that he is entirely wrong, mind you. Martin is indeed a deeply disturbed little boy and there are a lot of things wrong with him. Thus providing nature vs nurture material. How much of this insanity came by nature and how much of it was nurture? Because, as we can tell from the flashbacks, the way he was raised did not help either. He is socially inept and nearly incapable of expressing his emotions or having a fluent conversation. Which oddly lands him the attention of a woman who is sick of all the superficial and unwanted opinions floating around in daily life.

This brings me to the oddest things: his views on sex. Sometimes, he comes across as asexual and at others, you're not really sure what he really wants. I'm pretty sure he himself does not even know what he wants or what gets him off. At the start of the film, he murders a woman in a creepy scene, to then feel some disturbing form of intimacy when he cuddles with the naked corpse. Only to then methodically remove all traces from the scene of the crime. While he may be disturbed, Martin is also disturbingly methodical in his method of killing. He is not chaotic crazy and knows what he is doing.

As mentioned before, a mean spirited little horror with (hardly) anyone to root for. The most “fun” comes from seeing a young (and moustacheless) Tom Savini and perhaps from Martin's odd phone calls with a local talk radio host.

For people who like their horror a bit more outside the mainstream lines.

The Running Man 1987 ★★★★★

My personal favorite Schwarzenegger movie.

An interesting concept, certainly when it came out. Nowadays... well, there are no shows that actually kill people, but the level of exploitation might come closer than we all like to admit.

Highly entertaining and excellently paced action. From the first scene, you are tied to the rollercoaster for a great ride.

Cameos by both Mick Fleetwood and Dweezil Zappa. You guys wanna buy a hot stereo?

And last but not least: Arnold at his most Arnold. Amazing fightscenes and oneliners galore.

Great stuff.