Warm, fuzzy, cute and sparkling. All adjectives appropriately used to describe vampires in film now. What happened? What went wrong? I blame Joss Whedon, if it wasn’t for his idea of giving vampires a soul we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. It could be argued this happened sooner, in the 80’s with The Lost Boys, but either way vampires these days are hardly the monsters they used to be. That is until Stake Land. A riveting drama/horror that takes the horror of vampires and mixes it with the post apocalyptic zombie survival story.
Martin (Connor Paolo) was your regular teenage boy, that was until the vampire plague started. It swept the world like an unstoppable force, leaving a trail of destruction. Now only small towns survive by everyone banding together. Leaders have abandoned their countries and humans live in a world of economic ruin. The world still tries to function. Radio still broadcasts to any survivors, electricity still works for the most part and the world is trying to heal. As Martin’s parents are gathering their belongings a vampire slaughters them in a horrific scene. Martin only survives when a strange hero turns up and kills the vampire. With Martin’s parents now dead, the stranger – revealed to be ‘Mister’ (Nick Damici) – takes Martin under his wing. They begin travelling through the country, heading north to Canada now dubbed as ‘New Eden,’ a place of hope. Along the way they go through many human safe guards, trying to keep people safe and stop the vampires from getting in. They also meet The Brotherhood, a crazy religious cult intent of stopping any humans in their path who don’t believe in their god – sounds about right and what could actually happen. Mister and Martin take in many survivors along their way, Sister (Kelly McGillis), Belle (Danielle Harris) and Willie (Sean Nelson). They’ve got to work together to make it north to the promised land of New Eden.
I’ll just say it, you’re going to love Stake Land. It’s one of the best vampire films in years, easily comparable to the 80’s classics, injecting a new leash of life into a currently dying/camped up genre. It tells vampires how they are and how they should be depicted – merciless grotesque monsters with only one thing in mind. Mister is the sort of anti-hero that films such as this thrive on. He’s got a real vendetta against the vampires and he won’t help people unless he absolutely has to. Martin becomes his conscious almost, helping him find that more humane side that he’d lost while he was on his own. Unlike other films which barely/not at all touch upon the human danger (and this is where the post apocalyptic element comes into play), The Brotherhood are a persistent and dangerous threat, seemingly known by everyone our heroes encounter, so much so that nobody sadly has the power to stop them, which sees The Brotherhood go from town to town destroying all of the goodness the humans are trying to rebuild.
Stake Land explores the vulnerability of humans, telling the personal tale of trying to survive the monsters – humans and the vampires alike – while trying to hold on to the last grasp of humanity. At its core it’s a journey about finding the strength to survive against the greatest odds, which is a nice touch for a horror film to have, one which is comparable to quieter films like 30 Days of Night. It’s a horror that mixes great vampire films with great post apocalyptic films such as The Road which generates a great formula that makes you wish there were more films like this.
Stake Land’s a horror that really connects with its audience. You empathise with the characters and you genuinely care about them. You can’t help feel a little sad that once Mister has saved Martyn’s life, taught him and helped him become a man, by the end he doesn’t feel like there’s anything else he can do for him. After everything they’ve been through their ending is just a little hollow, but also true to the film and the characters.
Rating: This is a chilling and thrilling vampire film that packs a huge punch and one not to be missed. (8/10).
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