Drew (Niko Nicotera) narrates his story from inside a police interrogation room: he has recently returned home after being away for quite some time. He inevitably crosses paths with his adopted father, local crime magnate Larry Glass (Mark Boone Jr) and his adopted sister June (Sam Quartin). Larry is a scary dude but June is quite fetching despite some of her more troubling habits, so incest be damned, these two are hooking up. To escape their complicated past (and perhaps outrun some judgmental laws against incest), they decide to run away, but have to kill Daddy first, which just makes sense. I mean, why not christen the new romance with your sister by plotting to revenge-kill your abusive father? The ONE advantage of having sex with your sister is that you only have to kill one dad! They vastly underestimate Larry though – he gets wind of their half-baked plan and hires his own hit man (Marilyn Manson) to “solve the conflict.”
I really enjoy Mark Boone Junior and I feel magnetically drawn to him every time he’s on the screen. Nicotera isn’t bad either. Drew isn’t exactly a sympathetic character, but you can understand where he’s coming from. Larry is just plain sinister. June is harder to crack: both strong and fragile at the same time. Quartin and Nicotera volley off each other quite nicely.
And then there’s Marilyn Manson playing an enigmatic hermit hit man. You have to hand it to him, nobody creeps and lurks and skulks quite like him. His performance is restrained, his stillness and silence somehow more menacing than outright aggression could ever be. He’s an unknown quantity, used sparingly by the script, so you always feel off-kilter when he’s around.
The story turns out to be a little more complex than you first think, the script hiding some family secrets to be unearthed along the way. The patient shall be rewarded. Let Me Make You A Martyr unspools itself slowly, but there’s a spartan method to it that you come to appreciate.