STAKE LAND
is an interesting episodic journey movie. Martin, a young man, is saved from
vampires by a vampire hunter named Mister. Mister starts training Martin to kill
vampires as they head further north to New Eden while surviving against the vampires and the Christian Aryan Brotherhood (who
believe vampires are God's answer to cleansing the planet). On their journey,
they pick up a nun (Kelly McGillis) and a Young pregnant girl named Belle (Danielle Harris).
They journey into a land that is inhabited less by people while avoiding the Brotherhood who want Mister dead. They find moments of hope in protected towns lockdowned to hopefully keep the
vampires out.
STAKE
LAND is one of the better vampire films and horror films I have seen in a while. It combines hope with bleakness (where THE ROAD just was plain bleak). The places they shoot in evoke either an Old West feel or a post-apocalyptic
feel. I was fine with the episodic feel of STAKE
LAND because it made their journey seem more real without the movie focusing on
a central enemy and the only focus is to survive. I also liked how they
had various different type of vampires (which is something I feel is ripped from the book I AM LEGEND and other vampire fiction). It is a low budget film with so much life and creativity. It is one of the better entries in the horror film and vampire film genres this year. The characters hold their own as you care for the good guys and despise the bad guys (and the vampires
who are almost as bad as the Brotherhood).
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Two audio commentaries-
one with writer/ director Jim Mickle, writer/
actor Nick Damici, actor Connor Paolo, producer/ actor Larry Fessenden, and producer Brent Kunkle.
The other track is with one with writer/
director Jim Mickle, producers Peter Phok and Adam Folk, DOP Ryan Samul, sound designer Graham Reznick, composer Jeff Grace.
Both audio commentaries reveal how the
film was made and how low budget it was in addition to the film being filmed into two segments (where they had to stop filming
with half of it done to come back later to finish it). They offer insights on
how the story evolved during the writing of it.
also included is the theatrical trailer. More behind-the-scenes extra are included on the two-disc DVD special edition and
the Blu-ray.
FINAL ANALYSIS: STAKE LAND is an awesome
episodic journey film about people surviving after vampires infect the world. It
is a must-see for fans of vampire and horror films.
this DVD review is (c)8-7-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com
