Simply A Masterpiece

Let's be realistic.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Yeah this movie isn't all that great, but some are calling it the worst horror film of the decade, but I wouldn't call it that, not by a long shot, that honor goes to Zombie Nation (no I don't mean the TV series) that movie is a steaming pile of crap and more then deserves its rating of 2.1/10. Anyways the thing I didn't like the most about Stake Land is that it has a lot of plot holes, like Mister who is supposed to be some expert hunter, yet he goes and leaves a sleeping, pregnant girl alone, I mean come on! And the sister wasn't having any trouble keeping up, but she just suddenly decides to commit suicide?!? She was with Mister and Martin, so wasn't able to see that the girl had fallen behind, so she wasn't doing it to help her get away. Also Mister had been obsessed with getting both himself and Martin to New Eden, but when they are finally within reach of it, he just goes off and leaves him? Would of made way more sense for Mister to make sure he at least got there, even if Mister no longer wanted to stay. Plus the dialogue just didn't feel natural a lot of the time, seemed like people said things that one wouldn't actually say. Also the tone of the film was very serious, it wasn't trying to be one of those "so stupid it's funny" movies, it was trying to be serious, yet it was very cheesy at times, like that cop saluting Mister as he rode off into the distance, I actually laughed out loud at that. I realize this movie was done on a small budget, but still the really cheap sound affects detracted from the film as well, as did the many different firearms mistakes. However considering the small budget I was impressed with the quality of the special affects. I think this movie's strongest point is the character development, that was pretty well written. I was genuinely sad when Martin had to kill the girl.

After a devastating plague has reduced most of mankind to a vampiric state with small, isolated pockets remaining, a small group tries to survive a series of encounters with a ravenous group of vampires that started the apocalypse.This one was an enjoyable enough effort though it does have some flaws. One of it's biggest positives is the rather inventive take here on the vampire genre by melding it onto a post-apocalyptic setting usually reserved for zombie. While this does manage to inflict the creatures with some zombie-like behavior in their creation through a virus and their animalistic, savage behavior driving their attacks rather than the intelligent, cunning types usually portrayed in this kind of effort, there's a rather fun amount of time here with this ravenous new attitude. By featuring this type of attitude and really working on the aggressiveness here, this one manages to come up with some rather enjoyable actions scenes including the opening in the barn that brings them together, a vicious battle with the creatures at a remote farmhouse and a rather thrilling attack on a peaceful community that really serves as quite the highlight attack for all the chaos and action presented. Aside from the action, this one has plenty of impressive gore to really help this out as well though there's some additional bloodshed spread throughout this in the forest encounter with the creatures as well as the pretty good finale battle in an underground lair. There's enough here with this to be a lot of fun but it's not without problems, first and foremost among them the idea that a fundamentalist religious group is behind it all. The story aspects of this feature make no sense at all and is completely illogical to be done here for their whole plan is predicated on the idea of controlling such creatures and having them being controlled when there's not any shred of evidence that says otherwise. Not only that, but the concept of using these creatures as a harbinger of the apocalypse isn't the slightly bit rational and conflicts with the rest of the story rather badly. The last flaw here is the narration of the main character all throughout here, which really causes a lot of irritation problems throughout the first half by providing a lot of useless points over and over so it really turns into an overblown tactics that does nothing for the film. These hold it down a touch, but overall this one has enough to like to overcome this.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity.

Cast aside any notion of nice, pretty-boys twinkling vampires and replace them with old school vampy monsters, more akin to zombies with snarling, distorted faces and a distinct inability in dying (properly, you understand). However, despite being an unashamed monster movie, Stake Land feels surprisingly subdued for a recent horror film. With its melancholic tone, ravaging of the religious right and focus on characters over action, the film succeeds in being a bit more thoughtful than many of its contemporaries. With fairly few jumps or scenes that are likely to scare a grizzled horror fan, Stake Land is easier to recommend for its realistic world-building, mournful soundtrack and interesting, well-drawn characters.As a boy Martin was orphaned when his whole family was eaten by a vampire, but he survived by being taken under the wing of enigmatic father figure and teacher, Mister. The film goes on at an unusually slow pace and painstakingly constructs a very authentic feeling vision of post-apocalyptic America. Guarded communities living in fear while supplies dwindle, drinking and sleeping together in packed bars until the sun rises and religious nuts taking over the wilderness to rape and murder as they please.The film is most memorable for its details of life after the vampires take over. The small communities that have popped up round the country feel realistic and lived in. A sense of community, as if the vampire apocalypse may help America return to a simpler, more caring time.Stake Land is a very well made film and can be enjoyed as a simple horror film but also as an experience of a post-apocalyptic society and the highs and lows of living in a world with a drastically reduced population.

I want to say upfront that I'm not a great fan of the latest post-apocalyptic movies, 'cause they all are so much the same and therefore, just boring. And movies about zombies and vampires are definitely off my list, for the same reason (although I'm a big fan of Bram Stoker's Dracula and The Walking Dead).This movie was recommended to me by a friend of mine, and almost reluctantly, I started watching it about two hours ago. And it is just great. I mean, really. I don't know why it got only 6,6 points on IMDb, because it's definitely worth watching. Of course, if you are looking for some hot looking main characters slaughtering hundreds of vampires - forget it, wrong address. But if you are into a post-apocalyptic movie with supernatural monsters which gives you a sense of reality, twisted, but still reality - go for it. And I found the acting brilliant.