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".
另一面表现因为内乱导致乱葬坟的事件 但该电影不好的一点是虽然剧情上两个故事有链接 但是主题是不相干的 导致前后比较分裂 同时两个母亲的主题也没有很好的收尾 之后直接转入另一个事件 这相当于把两个电影合在一起
格局大 着眼点又很细致生活化 结合的一点都不突兀。妙。每个人物都立体。结尾很难不难过。追思历史。佩妮洛普强，喜欢短发的Ana
保持阿莫多瓦一贯水准下的艳丽色彩搭配新奇故事，把人与人之间的情欲纠葛拍的那么的奇特与浪漫，脑洞大开的表现两个单亲母亲（后面成了情侣）面对既是各自又是彼此的孩子时的惊讶诧异和不可名状，甚至带一点惊悚与讽刺。还破格加入了西班牙惨痛血腥的历史政治议题，虽首尾呼应，也穿插于电影剧情中，但与电影整体氛围还是稍显割裂。毕竟两个女人一台戏更刺激更好看。当然也看到了导演对女性权益（单亲母亲的艰难困苦、女性遭遇侵犯时的恐惧无助）的自我表达，表现了对女性群体的关注。这一点确实也很政治正确，但不讨人嫌，毕竟导演功底深厚，拍的还是很好看的。佩内洛普科鲁兹的演技也是没的说，很精湛，演绎一位单亲母亲也是游刃有余，不出戏，很好看，就是不知能否捧回一座小金人？电影四星推荐！
足够分离的两条叙事，但都在讲着同一个母题：母亲与孩子。西班牙的孩子在溯寻失忆的暴政中被消失的祖先；错换的孩子拥有着无与伦比的爱，来自她们的母亲，哪怕死亡也无法带来母女间的陌生感。虽然并不是很喜欢这种用集体命运干扰女性形象的背景，但这次视听稍显克制的阿莫多瓦再次在一个细节中击中了我，色彩玲珑虽然有效地中和了情感的厚重，但我从影院出来一度呼吸困难，在回家路上因为过度放任沉溺于泪眼而导致坐过了站。不过这很难讲是因为什么，或许是“等待”。等待一只虚妄的手握住我的虚妄；等待一个已经跨海而来的陌生人；等待一个死于非常年轻时候的母亲的出现。在一个和阿莫多瓦、茨维塔耶娃、佩索阿交换个体私密记忆的夜晚，等待迷雾散去。
「母亲」本身确实可以作为奇情与历史的锚点，但全片看下来总觉得稍微欠点，也许关于Janis（及所有出现的个体母亲）与历史的联系、对历史的关切的部分再多些会更好？或者这个抱错的故事跟乱葬岗（留下的女性们）有什么隐喻上的联系，是我没看出来吗？近几年看阿莫多瓦就像在看家装和时装catalogue，每个场景里吸引眼球的色彩和单品有点太多了，一个镜头出来眼睛疯狂乱瞟，在某种意义上也让人很难静心看「电影」作为一个整体，至少分了六成注意力专门看production design。
【NYFF59】3.5；和主题割裂感过重，Penelope的表演虽好但总感觉没有好到影后程度（我先滑跪一个）有几处剧本很出彩。虽然主题部分做得有点别扭，但最后一幕出来的时候还是挺感慨的，个体与族群的痛苦之根融合为一，无人能不动容。
阿莫多瓦塑造了一个伟大的西班牙女性形象，近代西班牙女性的历史在她身上铺陈开来，着眼未来之前更重要的是要了解我们的过去，只要抱有信念的人还存在 历史就不会沉默（此片需要配合《沉默正义》共同观看 P.S 讲述女性主义不能靠《最后的决斗》式的意淫，要靠Janis式的真实生活的承载
阿莫多瓦这部电影拿来做开幕片真是再合适不过了，有亮点有结构，阿莫多瓦的风格也展现了出来，但是感觉比他之前别的电影略逊色，希望能摘下一个奖（佳能一定投了不少钱）！
历史战争的伤痛为核心，不屈于掩盖事实，与两位平行母亲寻求根源相互对应。但姬情就很莫名其妙…
Janis一家三代都是单身母亲也是很酷了。Ana挺美的，真的是身世悲惨。这回讲了三个不同的母亲。寻找全村的骸骨和互换孩子的故事，内核难道都是血脉相连？
横向对比Netflix前几部“盛典式”电影来说（包括但不限于《红色通缉令》、《亚当计划》、《蜘蛛头》…），感觉会更加“像回事”些；最终的成品也更加能直观感受到它的投入回报，而非过往总是存在的“洗米”嫌疑。得益于Ryan和Chris在各自部分的掌舵，以及所创造的足够有说服力的“对决”感；哪怕是在首小时后就不再有什么认真的故事，依然足够让人继续跟进下去。至于置身一场打满全球的热闹与风格鲜明的硬场面也样样都来，绝不只是走过场拗造型，还算欢乐充实。除此之外，Regé-Jean Page飞出荧幕的性感和越走越好的“Anna-Kat”Julia Butters可看作锦上添花；只是它的设想如同原著系列小说注定是个要拓展更多的系列，却很少能够在这里感觉到继续下去的方向。停在这里是四星鼓励，继续下去是四星“送终”。
死去的孩子 错爱的孩子 即将诞生的孩子 一个国家的历史记忆与一个母亲的奇遇平行并置 日常化的场景却又充满了戏剧冲突 一众议题被自然的包裹进故事中 阿莫多瓦让完成这一切看起来如此轻松
都2022年了，反派刑讯的手段还只是拔指甲直到拔了两枚指甲之后才想到可以拿人质来威胁对方？都2022年了，情报局的外包特别行动小组还敢在欧洲街头兴风作浪明明装备了重火力和火箭筒偏偏就是杀不掉被拷在石倚上的一个人？都2022年了，还有编导没参考过乌克兰空展上战机事故后地面上血肉狼藉的惨状而布置出市区经历大战后混乱整洁的场景？都2022年了，瑞恩高斯林还还接这种就只是充当性玩具说出“扔一把空枪”这种无聊而莫名其妙台词的角色？都2022年了，还有编剧还能设计出连变态都变态得如此无趣挟持小屁孩自信满满地要和别人单挑结果打不赢就掏刀最后还打输了的反派？
这生存之链啊：婴儿的血缘与无名死者的身份。Almodovar的影像如水一样流，情怀也悲天悯人，但总像少了点什么，也许是他娴熟的通俗奇情模式容易铺陈太多、叙事太满之故？我最喜欢的还是“Habla con Ella"，不单为了里面有卡耶塔诺。
emotional*新生命和逝去生命完成了第一次的面对面，虽然乱葬岗故事线不知道怎么插入，放在母亲们的故事还是很割裂（
阿莫多瓦令人敬佩的地方在于不断添加意义，技法更纯熟更subtle
大概在讲血缘传承？从伦理剧情，到铭记历史？看得我困惑。不算烂，不算乱，不清晰而已。前面稍微睡着了。
熟悉的阿莫多瓦配方，熟悉的Penelope Cruz ，熟悉的西班牙口音。虽然剧情有很明显的漏洞和强行拼凑的情节，可是女神已经值得我给四颗星。Penelope就是那种不是很漂亮，但是她一出现总是可以吸引你的注意力，一颦一笑都恰到好处那种。
5 两条线生硬的并在了一起融合成了一部教育片。
最后上升到历史观的时候我羞愧的承认是自己浅薄了
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