DVD Review: “Stake Land” is a Moody Trip into Post-Apocalyptic America
Unmistakably influenced by the bleakness of John Hillcoat’s 2009 film The Road, Jim Mickle’s vampire plague movie Stake Land is an atmospheric and pleasantly compelling tale of survival in a post-apocalyptic world. The story is set in America after a plague of vampires has turned the country into a desolated waste land, dotted with small locked-down communities and scared survivors. When Martin’s (Connor Paolo) parents succumb to a vampire attack, the boy is taken under the wing of a grizzled drifter known only as ‘Mister’ (Nick Damici).
Together they must make their way north towards Canada, traveling through a post-apocalyptic America where both blood-suckers and religious zealots come to threaten their lives. Along the way, they create bonds with a hopeless nun (Kelly McGillis), a pregnant folk singer (Danielle Harris), and an ex-Marine (Sean Nelson) left to die by a group of racist Christian extremists.
Director Jim Mickle is obviously a promising filmmaker, crafting an impressively moody and vivid post-apocalyptic world featuring desolate landscape, abandoned towns and small beacons of civilization. Despite the modest $4 million budget that was at his disposal, an omnipresent feeling of constant death and isolation is accomplished in a very economical manner through the evocative cinematography and set design.
While the movie starts off a bit unevenly and does suffer from some pacing issues, Mickle otherwise spends most of his efforts on developing characters we care about, getting solid performances from his cast. The best moments of the movie happen during the quieter scenes, when Mister teaches Martin how to kill vampires, or when the two get some respite before the cold reality of their world sets in again. This is a low-key indie that intelligently avoids piling on vampire action mayhem and theorizes that even in this ravaged world, the biggest threat to one’s well-being is still your fellow man.
Stake Land is the movie Zombieland should have been.
B
(7/10)
Notes: Rated R for strong bloody horror violence, language and brief nudity.
18 Comments
It definitely sounds like a must see.
Yea, check it out!
This is the most “realistic” & well-made post apocalyptic horror flick I’ve had the chance to see since Let the Right One In. I recommend it.
Well said, I was surprised at how gritty and well-crafted it was despite its small budget origin.
This is getting some good reviews. I haven’t seen it yet but I think I better add this to my to-see list.
You should give it a shot, it’s a good one
I tried to stream this on netflix but it is dvd only so far…hopefully that will change soon, as this sounds really intresting
That’s the problem with Netflix Streaming and why I canceled my plan. 90% of good movies aren’t available
Brill. I have this in my collection at the moment, labelled TO WATCH. You have just moved it upward Castor
Nice! Let us know what you think once you get to watch it
I caught up with Stake Land last month, and I’ll echo Castor’s comments. It’s a really interesting take on the genre and doesn’t overplay the horror of the vampires. Like he says, the humans are the most dangerous part of this world.
Thanks for the backup
Glad you liked it.
I do so want to see this one. Initially I thought it sounded too similar to Zombieland, but I like what you say at the end. “Stake Land is the movie Zombieland should have been” …….sold.
I was one of the three people who found Zombieland a bit underwhelming. This is like a serious version of that movie… with vampires
I love reading positive reviews of movies that aren’t even on my radar. I’m not sure I’d even heard of this. Or if I had, it had slipped my memory. I’m all over this now.
Definitely check it out!
I’ve been championing this movie for months. It has made me very happy to see it start getting some attention on movie blogs lately (though now that Halloween is past, I expect that attention will go away for a year).
Yea those little indies can easily get through the cracks especially something like Stake Land that has basically no star power.
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