It’s easy to bemoan the state of the horror genre; it’s spun itself into a funk of directors who don’t seem to want to leave the genre and thus just keep producing the same generic slasher or torture films over and over. Every genre needs an infusion of new blood every once in a while, and if that comes from an established director dabbling (a la Danny Boyle) or a rising star making a name for themselves (Adam Green), then great. In the vein of the latter come Jim Mickle and his coming of age film, Stake Land, in a world where America has crumbled into a wasteland of survivor camps and religious extremists fighting against a vampire horde gradually thinning their numbers. Stake Land isn’t about flashy style or big names, it’s a simple road trip horror film that looks fantastic, clips along at a great pace, and produces some fantastic action pieces. If you want to renew your hope in the horror genre that Hollywood continues to pollute with utter garbage, then Mickle’s Stake Land is a beacon of independent horror that should not be overlooked.
The man known only as Mister (Nick Damici) is something of a prodigy when it comes to surviving the harsh wilderness of the new America overrun by vampires. Really though, he doesn’t just survive – he hunts. With his protégé Martin (Connor Paolo) they’ve formed a two-man team scavenging for food and equipment in abandoned houses and travel across the country towards New Eden, a promised safe haven in the north. As their journey continues on, they take up with similar wandering souls. The first is the tortured nun, Sister (Kelly McGillis), whom they rescue from the demented hand of The Brotherhood, a fundamental religious organization headed by Jebedia Loven (Michael Cerveris). Joining them later on is the young, pregnant Belle (Danielle Harris), the friend Martin has lived without for so long, and Willie (Sean Nelson), another near victim of The Brotherhood. As much as they worry about the undead, The Brotherhood prove that the fanatical living pose an equal threat in dark times, and soon enough the band of survivors are on the run from a devilish creature born of both enemy groups.
Jim Mickle and Nick Damici’s script for Stake Land makes an excellent use of silence and natural sound. As much as the character interactions enrich their tenuous bonds to one another and some semblance of life before the outbreak, they’re matched by those silent moments when the characters sit, holding their breath, listening for an indication in the sounds of the forest around them that the vampires have left. Damici and Paolo get most of the screen time, and their performances make their mentor and mentee relationship believable and one we’re willing to see to the end of the gruesome adventure. The world of Stake Land is sprinkled with enough diverse characters that it instantly feels more alive than many similar films, and it seems to have taken the best thematic elements of the recent The Road and improved upon it by embracing the natural landscape and sounds, letting them inform the viewer as much as dialogue or music.
Of course there is one down side. After watching Stake Land, no one could blame you if you thought you’d just watched a post-apocalyptic thriller about a band of survivors in a North America ravaged by zombies. But that’s not what you watched, at least not exactly. In fact, Stake Land, as the name might allude, is a film about vampires. It’s a bit refreshing that Director Jim Mickle didn’t opt for the style of blood suckers as seen in the Twilight (brooding and abstinent) and True Blood (sexualized and moody) franchises, or even the very traditional Dracula legacy. Instead he took the traditional zombie mold and added fangs – except what does that really change about zombies? They’re still going to bite you and devour your innards. In attempting to go a different direction with his vampires, he went too far in a way that makes them characteristically and behaviorally indistinguishable from the zombies of 28 Days Later or Dawn of the Dead, with the only potential for differentiation coming with the caveat that you need to stake them in the heart. It’s an important detail, certainly, but the ratio of vampire zombie screen time to how often they’re killed makes it an easy detail to overlook.
In the end, the blurring of the line between zombie and vampire is one for the diehard fans of the genre to quibble over, but they should never lose sight of the fact that Stake Land has definitely brought something new to the table. It’s an independent horror film that feels utterly large in its scope. It looks and feels like a massive undertaking and it just goes to show that “independent” does have to mean “looks cheap”. Mickle and his cast and crew have set a new bar for independent horror films.
The film is beautifully shot and there’s a lot to be soaked in through your ocular cavity, and it’s only made sweeter in HD. The Blu-ray presentation easily beats out the theatrical projection and the world of Stake Land is even more convincing than it already was. If you’re fortunate enough to have a solid surround sound system, the final third of the film spent in deep wilderness is spectacularly eerie.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
For an independent horror film, Stake Land has plenty of extras, both narrative and production-wise, to fill up the disc. The two audio commentaries feature a healthy mix of cast and crew, from the obvious Director appearance in both, to the inclusion of Paolo, cinematographer Ryan Samul or Producers Larry Fessenden and Peter Phok. A comprehensive making of featurette is then supplemented by a series of 4 video diaries covering pre-production, storyboards, visual EFX, and post-production. The narrative pieces include the 7 prequel stories for the main characters that Mickle released before the film’s limited theatrical run. Finally, a Q&A round table recording from the Toronto International Film Festival is also included.
"Stake Land" is on sale August 2, 2011 and is not rated. Action, Horror, Thriller. Directed by Jim Mickle. Written by Nick Damici, Jim Mickle. Starring Dannielle Harris, Kelly Mcgillis, Connor Paolo, Nick Damici, Michael Cerveris, Sean Nelson.
