Romero has stated that this superb spin on the vampire genre is his favourite of his own films. Martin (John Amplas) is a moody, withdrawn young man who may be a vampire — at the very least he believes himself to be, and feeds his (imagined?) craving by drugging women and feasting on their blood. He arrives in a dying Pennsylvania steel town to live with his stern, religious uncle Cuda (Lincoln Maazel), who is convinced that the boy is evil and must be destroyed. After the lonely Martin finally makes a human connection with his kindly cousin Christina (Christine Forrest), he struggles to suppress his murderous urges, while his uncle plots to save his soul in a more permanent fashion. "A surprisingly tender, ambiguous, and sexy film in which Romero's penchant for social satire is for once restricted to local and modest proportions" (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader).