Eugenio Martin

Eugenio Martín
Born	1925 Ceuta, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Occupation	Film director, Screenwriter
Notable work	Bad Man's River, Horror Express, The Bounty Killer

Eugenio Martín is a Spanish film director and screenwriter. He was born in May 15, 1925 in Ceuta, an autonomous city of Spain located on the north coast of Africa. He is best known for the low-budget genre films he made in the 1960s and 1970s, including Bad Man's River, The Bounty Killer, and Horror Express, the latter being particularly notable for its inclusion of the well-known English actors Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, famous for their work with Hammer Films. Though never remarkably successful either at the box office or among critics, Martín's films, particularly Horror Express, have achieved cult status. The popular horror film magazine Fangoria included Horror Express in its book, 101 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen: A Celebration of the World's Most Unheralded Fright Flicks.

Martín was a child when the Spanish Civil War broke out. Since the uprising first broke out among Nationalist generals in Spanish Africa, the African port city of Ceuta was immediately embroiled in violence. Following the death or arrest of friends and family members, Martín's family fled to Grenada on the Spanish mainland.

After publishing a volume of verse, Martín's interests veered toward cinema, and while still at university he created Grenada's first film society. Though he considered leaving Francoist Spain for a less censorious environment, he eventually decided to stay in Spain, accepted into the "Institute of Cinematic Investigation and Experiences" in Madrid. At the Institute, Martín made a series of well-regarded short films and documentaries before making his first feature film Despedida de soltero ("Farewell to the Single Life"), in 1957.

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