"Stake Land" Reviewed



This 2010 movie was described as, "Martin was a normal teenage boy before the country collapsed in an empty pit of economic and political disaster. A vampire epidemic has swept across what is left of the nation's abandoned towns and cities, and it's up to Mister, a death dealing, rogue vampire hunter, to get Martin safely north to Canada, the continent's New Eden."

I heard so many good things about this movie ahead of time and was anxious to see it. A darling man gave me this video and told me to see it. He and I have the same taste in movies, so I was not surprised that I would like it so much. It had a feel like "The Walking Dead" in some ways and "Jericho." I really appreciated the heartland feel to it, the narration by the teen boy, and the settings. It never felt like a set built to feel like an abandoned world filled with death. It actually felt like it was filmed in such a world.

Mostly, I appreciated that it made no apologies. There was no violence just for effect and the characters were so removed from the horror, that as a viewer, I too was removed. It was a very delicate dance to get that across without cutting the viewer off. We still felt a touch of care because of this boy narrator and that little island of hope and innocence he maintained for the carefree world he once knew. It had a unique take on an apocalyptic theme, taking the situation and showing the social implications in subtle ways, such as using vampire fangs as a kind of currency and way to show your power and ability in the new reality.

The directed maintained a good balance of action to narrative and you really felt that anything could happen. You could not predict the plot which I greatly appreciated. The insight into the kid's altered world at a critical time into manhood was brilliant. There was no better sex or age to make this main character. He was coming into adulthood with a need for an elder male's guidance, a new set of priorities, and the raging hormones, indecision and insecurity that made it the ideal point of view.

Of the apocalyptic movies I have seen (and there's a lot), this is in my top 5, most definitely. I highly recommend it! I saw two worthwhile horror movies in 2011; "Insidious" and "Stake Land." The only two that I ended up owning and that says a lot because I am really cautious to only acquire movies I know I will want to see again and again.

Comments

  1. I'll have to agree with you on this one. Insidious was one of the better horror movies this year. lol.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree. I'll take it with us to Kirkland. That should scare us properly.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment