Review of Stake Land (2010) by Jarrett M — 03 Aug 2011

In a time when movie vampires have become something to be swooned over by teenage girls than to be feared, it's nice to see a movie inject some monster into vampires. What is essentially a post apocalyptic road movie, Stake Land does feel at times like other similarly themed movies, but never becomes cliched or repetative.

The story is based around the survival of the main characters, not only due to the vampire plague, but also other humans, mainly the religious extremists that have risen after the apocalypse. Stake Land doesn't have a wealth of gore, or even violence for that matter, and there is no fancy cgi dusting or burning or the vamps when they're killed.

It certainly isn't a fancy or glossy movie, but it feels right that it is dirty and gritty; it works for the tone of the film. The Cast does a good job with their characters, nobody here will blow you away, but nobody drags the film down either.

The story is slowly paced, but never loses it way, and never really drags, even when there is long breaks between vamp attacks. My only real gripe with the film is the ending. Not so much the ending itself, but everything seems to wrap up rather fast in the last couple of minutes, and given the pacing of the rest of the movie, it feels a llittle out of place.

Anyone who is looking a fast paced, action oriented vampire movie, give this a pass. But if you don't mind a slower paced, more character driven story reminiscent of 28 Days Later with vampires that more closely resemble zombies than male models, give this a shot.

You just might find this a breath of fresh air.