Rating of
2.5/4
Stake Land
Harley Lond - wrote on 02/20/12
An epidemic of vampirism has turned the United States into a post-apocalyptic wasteland of empty cities, with human survivors clustering in small rural communities and fighting off the bloodsuckers when night falls. A lone survivalist, known only as Mister, teams up with a young boy, a disillusioned nun and a pregnant young woman on a trek north to Canada, searching for the rumored safe haven of New Eden. Along the way they also have to contend with brutal religious fundamentalists, who are more of a danger than the vampires, who they see as messengers of the Lord. This is a vampire film with a heart and a soul: Despite its straight-ahead vampire killing action, there's plenty of time for characterization and the development of subthemes; director Jim Mickle and writer Nick Damici work in thoughtful conversations and ideas about loneliness, teamwork, freedom and family. In fact, the film revolves around a nuclear family of sorts: the survivalist (Damici), who takes the young man (Connor Paolo) under his wing and becomes his surrogate father, teaching him the ways of the world, the motherly nun (Kelly McGillis) and the pregnant girl (Danielle Harris). It's a stylish, moody, trippy coming-of-age story with a stake in your hand.
