Review of Stake Land (2010) by Brian S — 07 Jun 2012

One of the better films in the genre, and clearly owing a lot to George Romero in both substance and theme. The vampires here might as well be zombies; that they drink blood and need to be staked through the heart is secondary. In fact, like Romero at his best, what we've got here is lucid horror with a great deal of social and political commentary thrown in. The vampires are bad, but they get worse when they're used as weapons by a right-wing religious militia whose leader has vowed to "put America back on the right way." The leadership is gone; America has broken down, the leaders have all abdicated, there's no more safety net. The populace left to its own devices has broken into factions, divvying up choice territories on a map in a return to a kind of feudalism. The only escape is to New Eden, and that's in Canada. There's a major commentary about the unraveling of American society underpinning everything we see.

What we see is good horror and drama, too. Don't look for moments of humor here; this is grim, gritty, bloody and raw all the way. Horror fans won't be disappointed by that aspect at all. There's plenty of horror, a fair amount of suspense, and even real character development that makes you care about the people you're seeing on screen, There are some thin moments, too, but they're few and far between in this well-above-average horror-drama. Strongly recommended for fans of the Romero school of zombie horror and for those who prefer brains to be used in writing a screenplay as something other than food for the undead.