Martin (John Amplas), a young man who looks around 20-years-old, boards a train in Indianapolis, Indiana for New York. At night, he breaks into a sleeping car and sedates a woman with a syringe full of narcotics. She struggles, but he tells her not to struggle or be upset because she wont feel pain. After a few minutes, the woman falls asleep, and Martin has sex with the unconscious woman. Afterwards, he slices her wrists with a razor blade so he can drink her blood. The woman bleeds to death in her sleep.
In the morning, the train stops in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where Martin disembarks. He is met by Tata Cuda (Lincoln Maazel) an elderly and hostile old man who claims to be his cousin from the Old World. Together, they travel by another train to the town of Braddock, a dying industrial suburb. They walk to Cuda's large house where he shows Martin his living quarters. Cuda then accuses Martin of being an 84-year-old vampire from his old country. He has taken in Martin because he is family, but tells him, "First I will save your soul. Then I shall destroy you." Martin denies being a vampire and implies that Cuda is merely his uncle rather than his cousin. Cuda then puts up strings of garlic on the doors to his and his granddaughter's room, and then holds up a small cross when Martin approaches him. Martin takes away the cross, and even takes a bite of the garlic mocking these attempts by saying bitterly, "There's no real magic... ever". Cuda tells Martin that he can come and go as he pleases. But he also warns Martin that he will kill him if he kills anyone in Braddock. He also tells Martin to stay away from his granddaughter Christine (Christine Forrest), whom arrives home from her job that evening.
Cuda introduces Christine to Martin, but also warns her to stay away from him. But Christine instead strikes up a friendship with Martin who confides in her about his vampire heritage. When Cuda later confirms Martin's claims to be a vampire, Christine, not surprisingly, refuses to believe either one. She thinks that Cuda and the other members of her family have driven Martin to insanity by making him think that he is a vampire. It is never revealed if Martin really is a vampire, or just a shy and lonely youth with troubled issues. Christine is the only person that Martin gets the courage to talk to. When Christine's boyfriend Arthur (Tom Savini) arrives at the house for dinner, Martin stops talking and backs away despite Arthur's attempt at a conversation. Christine later confides in Martin that she hopes to leave Braddock someday with Arthur, even though Martin points out that Arthur treats her badly and is both verbally and physically abusive towards her.
When Christine sees that Martin won't talk to anyone else, she buys him a phone which he installs in his room. Martin begins to repeatingly call a radio talk show where he describes what it's like to be a vampire. He becomes known on the radio as "the Count" to all the listeners. But the patronizing host (Michael Gornick) thinks he's just crazy.
Martin gets a job at Cuda's grocery store of stocking shelves, hauling boxes around, and even gets to be a delivery boy for some of the customers. One of his customers is a certain Abby Santini (Elyane Nadeau), who becomes taken in with Martin. She is a very friendly young woman who is depressed when she tells Martin that her husband is unfaithful. But Martin still does not have the nerve to talk with her, so she is happy to have someone to confide in with her life problems. Martin phones the radio show host to describe his infatuation with the housewife and senses that she wants to have sex with him. When the radio show host asks Martin if it is a sexual problem that he has involving women criticizing him during sex, Martin replies that he has never had sex with a woman who was awake.
One day, Martin travels by train to outside Braddock to look for victims. At a supermarket, he follows a young woman (Sarah Venable) home to her posh suburban house. He sees the woman's husband (Richard Rubenstein) leave for a long business trip, and Martin decides this would be the right time for more feeding. Martin returns to the house after dark and breaks in through the garage door. But it is Martin who gets the surprise when he bursts into her bedroom to find her in bed with her adulterous lover Lewis (Al Levitsky). After a vicious struggle, Martin jabs both of them with hyprodermic needles with narcotics, and waits for the drugs to take affect. He drags the unconscious body of Lewis from the house to a clump of trees across the street where he kills him by shoving a broken tree branch into his neck and drinks his blood. Martin returns to the house where he has sex with the unconscious woman. But out of compassion and pity, he decides to let her live.
Martin begins to have romantic monochrome visions of his vampire past (real or imagined), where he drained blood from a young woman and was chased through the streets of a nameless European town by a torch-lit mob.
During one Sunday at church, Cuda brings home Father Howard (George A. Romero) who asks him about the possibility of exorcism and demon possession. Father Howard calls upon the elderly Father Zulemans (Clifford Forrest, Jr.) over at Cuda's request. Together, Cuda and Zulemans confront Martin his bedroom and attempt to perform an exorcism on him. At this point, Martin remembers (another real or imaginary flashback), in the Old Country of people trying to perform an exorcism on him, and he flees them. Martin then flees from Cuda and Zuelmas as well. A little later that night, Martin terrorizes Cuda in a children's playground when he puts on a Dracula cape and puts false fangs into his mouth to pretend that he really is a vampire.
One day, Martin finally musters the courage to talk with Mrs. Santini during a routine delivery to her house where he tells her that he's aware of her attempts to seduce him and wants now to have sex with her. After having sex for the first time, Mrs. Santini becomes more depressed for she tells Martin that her husband just left her because she discovered that she cannot bear children, and that her desires towards him are based on sex and nothing else. But Martin wants to stay with her and help her move on with her life. Martin tells the radio show host about his affair with the housewife and that he no longer has the urge to attack other women.
Meanwhile, Arthur meets with Cuda and tells him that he wants Christine to leave town with him so they can get married and start a family. But Christine becomes angry at Cuda when he tells Arthur that insanity runs in their family and he shouldn't consider having children with her. Shortly afterwards, Christine packs up and leaves Braddock for New York with Arthur despite Martin telling her that Arthur is abusive towards her. But her mind is made up. Before leaving, Christine tells Martin that she really has no ill feelings towards him and just wants to make a fresh start with her life. She says goodbye to him and promises to write. But Martin knows that with an abusive and possessive man in Christine's life, she probably won't.
Depressed over losing his one true friend, Martin phones the radio show host and tells him that he's getting "shaky" and wants to go out looking for more victims. That night, Martin travels to a rough crime-ridden area of Pittsburgh and attacks two derelicts in a alley, injecting them with narcotics. He kills one of them by silting the bum's wrist and drinking his blood. Martin is about to kill the second one when a police car shows up and gives chase. Martin narrowly escapes during a long chase on foot which leads from the garbage strew streets and through a local store. Martin runs into an old warehouse where a drug deal is going down. A shootout between the two cops and the three thugs begins where all of them are killed, leaving Martin as the sole survivor who casually walks away from the carnage.
One day, Martin finds Mrs. Santini dead in her bathtub, after she had slit her writs with a razor blade. Martin anonymously calls the police to report the body and leaves. He phones the radio show host one final time to say that he really doesn't need friends or people to talk to for he is his own person. But when Cuda learns about Mrs. Santini's suicide, is mistakenly thinks Martin killed her and made it look like a suicide as he's done before. Cuda walks into Martin's room while he is asleep and kills him by hammering a wooden stake through Martin's heart.
Cuda buries Martin's body in his back garden, while over the closing credits various voices from people are heard talking to the radio show host asking the whereabouts of "the Count".
5分及格。中国美院出品，苗正根红，学院血统纯正。画面、构图的确考究，迷蒙，暗调，低饱和宛如中国水墨质感也称得上意境。但电影终归是一门综合艺术，即使历史真实背景题材，那也得说得清完整的故事。美则美矣，叙事只能说毫无节奏。压抑悲凉气氛有余，人物是一个都看不清。三层幻觉的拍摄风格多少有点黑泽明《梦》的意思，但插入方式过于生硬，感觉不是入梦，而是受伤用的草药里加了迷幻蘑菇，到点儿了，发作了。对于“生与死”的挣扎，“反英雄主义“立意难得，但呈现不到位，就变成了徒有虚壳的美，及空喊口号的形式主义。
理想与现实的赞歌，有点1917的影子，但差距不是一星半点。
没想象中那么风格化，反而很接近末世求生电影的类型架构。对白皆方言，然而也都是后期由专人配音的；吴、湘方言大概能听出来，别的不好说，但我总觉得讲不同方言的人能对话挺奇怪的。显然比较出色的部分一个在开篇，从先声夺人到长镜结束，虽然抖得不行，但让我印象深刻；另一处是洪队在悲伤与高压之下，于林中陷入幻觉，草木皆兵，做出了《恐怖游轮》的既视感。总体上形式与内容割裂较大，我常觉得创作者醉心于江南风光而忘记了文本为何。头一回听说“挺进师”，作为浙江人还是挺骄傲的。
缺点很明显（后期配音导致声音完全没有空间感，有几处叙事推进过于唐突，人物表演上也可以再打磨），但瑕不掩瑜，整部电影导演、编剧和摄影都可圈可点，尤其是整体电影在氛围营造和镜头语言上有想法。商业运作（300万投资30天拍摄）这样一部艺术化倾向的电影，值得大家抱着更宽容的态度支持一下。
片子有想法，挺大胆，但在我这不算成功。挺喜欢摄影的质感，影像的情绪和氛围有了，但完全不会讲故事，节奏一塌糊涂。整体不算差，不过能拿数个重要奖项不敢苟同。
可惜的是故事呈点状，比较散，某些片段优秀，但整体连贯流畅度欠佳。而且这样的故事有点与当下观众的需求、品味脱节，可能也是没太考虑受众，注定传播和影响有限。演员是非常认真，也演得好，真的甩那些小鲜肉多少条街……
看这片的时候满脑子想的都是前两天和地方政府谈的那个片子，同样的预算同样的摆，搁这胡求拍呢嘛，视听语言毫无章法，场场戏都在跑，强调任务但任务执行不清晰，在不明觉厉的地方强调，把本该加强的地方漏掉。剪辑总在你完全无法意料的地方跳进跳出。摄影很美，但还是得静帧，个别场景找得很好，但有些场景还可以更好，更完美，但那场日拍夜，实在看得难受，而且居然特么还能跑焦？跑那么久还不止一次？。这些和地方政府合作公费拍片的，总是不够勤快，摄影可以更好、剧本可以更好、试听可以更好、景也可以找得更好，就是不做，就是懒得做，导演在自己哪家电影厂里和老艺术家们高唱艺术颂歌，就是搞不明白怎么拍片子，别拿没钱当借口，这片子还行，至少它还能拍出来，狗日的地方政府休想再坑我一回！
画面极具风格，但是作为一部电影总有种半成品的感觉，故事讲得并不好看。
挺进师的故事，本来特别值得加一星鼓励，但创作团队已经很自嗨了，那就省了。质感诗意水墨画这种东西不谈，我是个俗人。剧本很简单，黑白画面也不坏，但人物刻画很有问题，角色特点太少太脸谱化了。电影是真的暗，看不出什么细节，但300万的成本有这样的完成度，差强人意了。
影像的黑白风格很有意思，算是本片一大亮点，但同时也使得几个未详细刻画的配角在观影时难以辨认，且枪战戏的调度和剪辑比较拙劣，加上黑白风格难以第一时间意识到具体发生了什么。不过最大败笔也是最影响观感的还是后期配音，人声明显能听出回音来，且完全不考虑口型、起止的问题，让我一度以为放映音画不同步。最后这片子能在北影节拿最佳影片……我挺不理解的。
一看片头许江 金一斌 高世名挂帅 结合之前在国美公众号上看他们狂吹电影怎么怎么样 就差不多能猜到这大抵是在跟央美抢主旋律话语权呢 但我只在画面上看到有国美的样 剧情呢 不伦不类
看得出是大影节最喜欢的风格了，对于人物心理的刻画很绝，区别于战狼系的燃炸爽，全程心都是被揪着拧着疼着，审美很高级，镜头直怼的时刻演员的微表情也都可以hold得住。中国美术学院对于“美”的拿捏还是很到位。姚安娜的方言说得不错，演得也没掉链子，不管是不是带资进组，这次交出的答卷肯定是合格的。
镜头虽美，但静态美更突出，缺了些影像的动态语言。可以说，这画面一半是极度好的、精致的，另一半却令人摸不着头脑。
几位主创都是朋友，确实也没有失望，没有强调战争中的对立，而是放在了“人本身”，看到了人道立场。
3.5 将战争中容易被忽略的环境作为抒情表意的角色之一，拍摄手法上刻意缩小人物突出大环境，使故事和人物有种被水状空间包裹着前进的流动感；镜像剧作结构，三场幻觉、象征性的表达，有意模糊敌我双方二元对立的传统模式，而主要表现战争对于人内心带来的恐惧，隐晦的表达出对战争的态度。很多东西还能深挖，只能算框架里的高分答卷。
十几年前上大学那会看了很多美院派拍的“电影”，如今这么多年过去了，居然还是这模样，黑白、烟雾、逆光、水下、颜色、环境音，一样都没落。真好，一部就让我祛了国内电影节的媚。
4.0，在如今语境中难得一见的战争片，风景美，摄影好。结尾一分钟道出了一切战争的真相，导演很勇敢
电影是资本的聚合体，没钱真的拍不了。取景美的很，但台词剧情演员甚至场景调度都是灾难。
感觉挺适合做游戏的，画面确实不错。但是，一支无组织无纪律没有战术不会动脑的军队是无法打长久战、以少胜多、从混战中获得最后胜利的，主创对红军的刻板印象受欧美影响太深，他们甚至不愿意认真读一读《红星照耀中国》
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