Stake Land [DVD]

Not another Vampire film I hear you cry!?....
but wait! this one's different!!!
...yeah? that's what they all say!!!.....

This is no Twilight (thank God) and if you must make comparisons Stake Land has more in common with The Road than any run of the mill vamp flick.
THis how I imagined I am Legend would be (should have been) before I saw it and wondered where the budget went once I saw the totally unbelievable vampires
Firstly, Stake Land is shot with a real cinematographers eye, one used to composing shots and attention to detail, not the spawn of some MTv, retina frazzled, Red Bull junkie, razorblading shaky cam shots together to give us migraines!
Secondly, we get fully believable characters and a storyline that unfolds, steadily, almost dream/Nightmare like at times with the voiceover from Martin, the teenage protagonist we meet in the opening scene, taken under the wing of the nameless "Mister" an enigmatic vampire slayer, they then attempt to make their way to the mythical "New Eden"

The Vampires in Stake Land are more like zombies, not the Romero shuffling undead, but the 28Days/Weeks later blood starved manic crazies and they come in several varieties, I won't spoil that discovery for you.

Like the indie hit Monsters earlier this year, Stake Land is another independent film that belies it's budget and delivers something outside the big studio stranglehold, to give us something different and fresh. don't think cheesey vampire flick, think more like, a post apocalyptic vampire flick directed by Terrence Malick.
Recommended.

!!!WARNING. MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!

Loner Mister(Nick Damici) and his young charge Martin(Connor Paolo) travel across America, trying to reach the mythical New Eden. All that stands in their way are hordes of vampires and dangerous fundamentalists. Along the way, they pick up an odd collection of survivors. What this disparite group soon realise is sometimes you should be just as wary of the living as the dead....

Stake Land has done quite a remarkable thing. In the current age of vampires becoming teenage heart throbs, such as those in the anodyne Twilight franchise, or leather clad masurbatory fantasies in the Underworld series, Stake Land makes vampires scary again. Okay, these aren't the aristocratic, well spoken vampires of past mythology, drinking the blood of the poor in opulent castles, but the vampires in Stake Land are a dangerous proposition.
Stake Land is a multitude of things. It is a road movie, a post apocolyptic night5mare, a coming of age story and an odd couple film. Above all, it is a quite brilliant horror film, building on all the promise of Mulberry Street to create a little masterpiece.

Central to this films success is the central relationship between Mister and Martin. Having rescued Martin from a vampire who slaughters the rest of the young mans' family, Mister's motivations or background are never explored in great detail. This does not matter. They have an unspoken understanding of what needs to be done in order to survive in this terrible new world. Nick Damici is excellent as Mister, but the performances are uniformally good, probably the best turn coming from Kelly McGillis, quite wonderful as a nun that the duo rescue.

Stake Land is a great horror film. Please ignore the negative reviews, as this film is quite extraordinary, and is quite clearly the work of an extremely talented bunch of people. Please buy it, and find out for yourselves. Highly recommended. 5 out of 5.

Another vampire film, thats what we needed right?
Well i can say this without hesitation that yes we do need another one, and when a film like this has been made then it needs to be watched, this is by far one of the best vampire films since lostboys, not only that but it is up there with 30 days of the night wich i also loved, either way you need to get this if you love horror films this a must own trust me you will not regreat buying this film, 100% pure classic horror.