Martin was a normal teenage boy before the country collapsed in an empty pit of economic and political disaster. A vampire epidemic has swept across what is left of the nation's abandoned towns and cities, and it's up to Mister, a death dealing, rogue vampire hunter, to get Martin safely north to Canada, the continent's New Eden.
As with George A Romero’s zombie movies, Mickle brings a strong sense of political and social awareness to the material, portraying a ragged America searching for self-belief as their country’s values collapse into savagery around them.
Owes a few too many debts to truly impress, but Stake Land has style, vision and something to say about the world around us – essentially, “We’re screwed!”
Forget what you think you know about horror. This one’s a game-changer.
A vampire post-apocalypse road movie with blood, brains and heart — and not just in the literal, splattered-on-the-screen sense. It’s a good little genre piece, edgy rather than slick, and well worth a look.
While this film may be lacking in the gender equality department, it’s still, for the most part, a foreboding road movie that’s not only beautifully shot, it also has the power to scare.
Despite being low budget, and in a genre that is close to fatigue at the moment, Stake Land shows signs of ambition and even distinction.
A film that shrugs off its small budget to present a meditation on survival and suffering.
Inventive.
For a relatively low budget effort, its production values are high and it has a sleek and stylish sheen to the action.
Lots of blood and gore and things which go wild in the daylight.
Think of it as The Road with less pomp and more chomp; a film with big ideas, but one that's also proud of its genre status.
Like the film version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, it has quasi-religious overtones and one very good scene, involving a horde of cannibalistic vampire zombie things being dropped on a town from a helicopter.
Profile: Jim Mickle
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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