Stake Land

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Allan C I’m a big fan of Nick Damici and Jim Mickle ever since their first clever low-budget zombie movie, MULBERRY ST, and who have gone on to much bigger success with WE ARE WHAT WE ARE (a surprisingly soulful cannibal horror story) and the Netflix series SWEET TOOTH (a surprisingly sweet post-apocalyptic saga). STAKE LAND was their second film, and they had a much bigger budget than their first (only about half a million dollars), and they put all of it up on the screen to fantastic effect! Cowriter Nick Damici plays “Mister,” a vampire slayer who drives around killing vamps in a post-apocalyptic world that’s been destroyed by a vampire plague. For such a low-budget film, they manage to tell a pretty large-scale story with quite a bit of world-building. The story follows a boy who is saved by Mister after a pack of vamps kills his family. The boy joins Mister on the road, killing vampires, collecting fangs, stopping at various communities of survivors, and avoiding a dangerous psychotic cult, as well as looking out for vamps. This world is as gritty, mean, and tough as Mister, and that’s the film’s strength. As nasty and ugly as this world is, it’s the utterly compelling world-building right up to the end of the film that most held my interest. You end the film wanting to see and learn more about this world, which you actually can do because there was a SYFY Channel sequel written by and starring Damici. Even though SYFY has a reputation for cheesy SHARKNADO types of movies, this one is solid and manages to stay true to the spirit of the original, even if it’s not quite as gritty. The main thing I disliked about the film was an overreliance on voice-over narration by the boy who joins Mister, although it is his narration that explains much of the world of STAKE LAND. Overall, if you like end-of-the-world movies, which I absolutely do, you’ll likely dig this film and should seek out this hidden gem. Kelly McGillis also appears in the film as a nun they save along the way.  Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 06/29/25 Full Review Spike D Surely one of the weakest post-apocalyptic films around. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 05/17/25 Full Review Jeepers C This is a great low budget apocalyptic movie. It is so well done. You really care about the characters in the movie. The makeup effects looks good on the vampires. The story runs smooth and is filled with tense horror, action scenes. It's gripping ending will make you go and watch Stakeland 2. It is also very good. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/19/25 Full Review Sam B A fairly new and fresh take on the standard vampire flick. Believable characters you care about, slow brooding atmosphere interspersed with some gory violence. I really enjoyed this. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/20/24 Full Review IrateTyrant C ZOMBIELAND meets 28 DAYS LATER The question you need to ask before watching Stake Land is how similar is it to Zombieland? The answer: Very similar, but strikingly different in many ways. It may have more in common with 28 Days Later, with the onset of the premise. But it has an imagination of its own, to be sure. As most of it takes place in the Adirondack mountains, the scenery is lush throughout most of the film. The cinematography is quite good, which helps support the framework. The acting is definitely on or slightly above par, especially from Connor Paolo who went on to have bit parts in some other movies. Paolo is mildly entertaining as the youngster who latches on to the older Mister character, deeply reminiscent of Eisenberg and Harrelson in Zombieland. Having come out a year later than Zombieland, it's clear the influence. Even the title, "Stake Land" is uttered in a clear voice-over inspired by the previous movie's success. There are really three types of vampire movies: those that focus on the victims, such as I Am Legend, those that focus on the vampires, such as Interview with a Vampire, and those that divvy up both sides, such as From Dusk Til Dawn. This movie falls in the victims category, with mostly one-dimensional monsters as the vampires until they start to evolve later in the movie into more of a From Dusk Til Dawn version. Zombieland minus the humor, 28 Days Later with vampires, or a dumbed down From Dusk Til Dawn, anyway you cut it, this movie uses other vampire movies as its stock and blends the components only semi-competently. Entertaining? Yes. Enough to write home about? Barely. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/01/24 Full Review Craig B A reasonable post-apocalyptic vampire flick. Reasonably well-acted, likeable and well-developed characters and plenty of action-filled scenes with some pretty nasty vamps. A kind of poor man's The Walking Dead is probably the best comparison here. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/19/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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