Stake Land (2010)

Martin: "As people flocked together for safety, the plague marched through their locked gates and they became death traps."

By Jim Mickle
With Connor Paolo, Nick Damici and Kelly McGillis

I don't remember how I first got to read about Stake Land, I remember that it interested me but I didn't pursue it any further. When I ran into it again a few days ago I decided to give it a shot.

Martin's family are packing and ready to leave but when their dog runs out, Martin follows and when he looks back, he sees blood and hear screams and shouts. A unknown man jumps on him and gives him a shotgun, the two of them go back in the house only to see a creature eating away at Martin's parents... and soon Martin's baby brother follow the same fate. The unknown man manages to stake the creature and takes Martin away, the two of them will fight together, Mister teaching Martin how to survive not only the vampires but also the religious zealots who wants them dead just as much as the vampire do. Through their journey they will meet other lost souls and will form friendships of desperation and need.

Stake Land might not be greatly inventive or creative but it is not boring either. The breed of vampire who actually look like zombies is a bit confusing at first and seems like a mash up but if you're not too picky on your usual vampire/zombie criteria you should be able to enjoy it. The characters lack some depth for the most part.

The main issue against Stake Land is the fact that it suffers comparison with a lot of survival post-apocalyptic movies that came out in the recent years and Stake Land actually doesn't bring anything new to the table, so while remaining a perfectly decent film in its own right, it has been made better, gorier, funnier, darker and grittier before. Stake Land is your mix between The Walking Dead (TV 2010) and The Road (2009) while never reaching the depth of either. It is predictable while the ending remains quite a surprise.

Nevertheless, it has some good scenes, interesting music, classical suspense, shotguns and stakes and most importantly it is better than a lot of zombie/vampire movies.

I liked: Entertaining. Countryside. Some pretty badassery.

I disliked: Predictable. Poor characters. Not original.

52/100
If you restrain for comparing it to other movies you've seen of the same genre, it will be a good experience.