Hello my fellow horror fiends! How long has it been? Too long, that's for sure!! I'm very sorry to have pulled a "Sam" and vanished from you all for so long. Nobody likes excuses but I will say that I've been quite busy with my career and other priorities in my life. But I'm back and this time hopefully it's for good! meaning I'll try not to abandon you, my readers, again. By the way, kudos to you if you got the "supernatural" reference above :) Since this is basically like starting new ( again, sorry!) I'll introduce myself and give you all a rundown of how I'll use this blog. My name is Josh Malcolm and I'm a Horror/Gothic photographer. I'm possibly the biggest horror nerd you may never have the pleasure to meet and if you do meet me consider yourself unlucky cause like the elusive Michael Myers I'm very hard to track down and if you do get a hold of me it's kind of pointless cause I really don't talk. Anyway, I'll be using this as my little horror corner of the world. From film, book and television reviews to my weekly trivia contest and everything in between. I will try to keep my reviews short and sweet and to the knives sharp point. And in case you forgot I will give all my reviews a severed foot rating. One being the worst and five being the best. Soooo, I think that's enough "rundown" let's get to the point with my review of "Stake Land".
In a sub-genre that is dominated by zombies, Stake Land not only travels somewhat uncharted territories by being a vampire film but it greatly succeeds as well. We have seen the "basic" premise a thousand times, a virus breaks out and city by city, state by state and country by country the infected take over leaving just strands of civilization left in it's wake until eventually the zombies take over everything and no one is left, right? Well, this time it's vampires, and these aren't your little sister's sparkling vamps either, these bad boys mean business. The story lies with "Mister" the hard edged and rugged vamp killer that has seen too much to be affected by anything and "Martin" the young boy that has to handle the transition from normal boy to vamp killing outlaw.Traveling by day and locking themselves in their car at night by basically covering the car in an iron vest, we follow them as they head north to what used to be Canada and is now being called "New Eden", that's where the salvation is supposed to lie. They pick up a couple folks in the meantime, most noteworthy is the incredible and talented horror queen Danielle Harris as "Belle" and Kelly McGillis as "Sister". Belle succeeds in bringing a needed warmth to the group and by being pregnant delivers some pretty touching scenes when they have little hope left. The real center of the storyline is brought to attention when the guys pick up Sister. it is then that we are introduced to the main antagonist of the film. Now I know you must be thinking, hey, dummy with the blog, it's a VAMPIRE movie! But to me anyway the vampires are the lesser of two evils here. To me the "Brotherhood" is the main evil. A group of "Christians" that believe the vampires are all part of God's work and will stop at nothing to punish the non-believers. One good case for this is when our group makes it to a "city" and all are having fun, the brotherhood drops vampires from a helicopter above to cause death and destruction. A great scene! The brotherhood is led by a very convincing Michael Cerveris as "Jebadia" and we are treated to some great moments with him and Mister. The acting is all top notch and the special effects are quite realistic. We are treated to some very nice gore scenes for all you gore heads out there but it isn't over the top either, it's believable. The film also succeeded in atmosphere and not relying on "boo" moments to provide all the scares as there are some very eerie and creepy scenes in this film. Also before I wrap this up, if you are looking to buy this film go after the 2- disc special addition. On the bonus disc we are treated to character prequels which are all very good and provide us with some insight into all the main characters lives. one stands out to me though and that is the prequel of "Willie" that is written and directed by non other than Danielle Harris! All in all, Stake Land is a great and refreshing entry into the vampire sub-genre and horror genre itself! A must see!
Severed foots- 4
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