You wake up and find your world overturned by some kind of zombie vampires. Your family tries to figure out how to escape the madness but it’s too late. Luckily (or unluckily…depending on how you look at it), you’re saved by a mysterious man who your dying father tasks to protect you. Welcome to Stake Land. This movie will surprise you, it definitely surprised me. Even if you’re not a fan of genre films, this is a well formulated movie that anyone can enjoy. It has everything you want packaged into a horror film: disgusting monsters, great visuals, a spectacular score, stunning backdrops, captivating acting and to top it off…a story! Winner of the Midnight Madness Award at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, this is now my favorite zombie/vampire flick.
Stake Land is an apocalyptic creature feature quest following a bad ass rugged loner named Mister and told from the point of view of his new young apprentice, Martin. Together they journey north towards New Eden which is rumored to be safe from the zombie vamps terrorizing everywhere else. As they travel from “safe” town to town, they are quickly warned that, “it’s not the zombies you have to worry about, it’s the cannibals!” But everything in this world is based on rumors and speculations so they can only trust themselves. They have a few run ins with a crazed religious organization called the Brotherhood which opens the doors to the argument of whether the monsters or humans are more dangerous.
Headshot? More like a Neckshot!
The movie has a lot of themes that a Western would have and the basis of both genres is not just the story, but more importantly, the characters. Stake Land’s characters are remarkable. From the puzzling silent killer within Mister (Nick Damici) to the growing and influenced? Martin (Connor Paolo) to a nun who must test her religion (Kelly McGillis), pregnant girl (Danielle Harris) who just wants a better life before her baby enters the world and military man (Sean Nelson) who was left behind long before he returned to America. The insane leader of Brotherhood, Jebedia Loven, is played by a stage actor, Michael Cerveris, who brings a top notch performance that really drives this movie over the top. Some of these might sound cliche, but the work really well together and the twists and turns within the film are only complimented by the character design. There are actually a set of shorts shot by different directors on the origins of each of the characters before they’re introduced to the film…you can check them out here (Click on Media).
Young Martin played by Connor Paolo in Stake Land
The most interesting, of course, is our young lead Martin played by Connor Paolo. He’s coming into his own while dealing with the environment around him. He must choose to stick with his new idol: Mister or settle down in one of these towns with other people. He’s like a blank slate that the audience gets to watch develop. One scene that I loved is after Martin takes his first drink and falls for the only clean girl in the entire movie. It’s those little scenes that make the biggest impact on me. There are plenty of different types of zombie vampires that don’t really hold to any one definition…they let the audience figure that out. There are slow zombies, fast zombies, vampires in packs, etc. They do a good job of explaining each along the way for the die hard monster maniacs, but don’t let that bog down the story.
Mister is a badass
Written by Mister himself, Nick Damici, and direct by Jim Mickle, they did an outstanding job creating a world you wouldn’t want to live in but would love to explore. They wanted to create a depression feel thinking that the world would be thrown back 100 years if some kind of infestation did happen. Rather than being completely dark, most of this movie is shot in daylight which really adds to the tone of survival and actually makes the film more relatable. You get drawn into these characters and can’t wait to see where the story takes them next on their journey to the rumored New Eden. Does it exist? Will they have enough supplies and strength to get there? Who from the group is going to make it? The movie doesn’t really add anything new to this genre of movie but what it does do is offer a movie that does everything right in it. It opens this Friday at the Roxie in San Francisco and plays at the IFC Center in New York. It will also be shown on IFC On Demand starting April 27th so you can check it out!
This post is part of our SFIFF coverageFounded in 1957, the San Francisco International Film Festival is the longest-running film festival in the Americas. Held each spring for two weeks, the International is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in the country’s most beautiful city, featuring some 150 films and live events with more than 100 filmmakers in attendance and nearly two dozen awards presented for cinematic excellence. The Festival attracts an annual audience of more than 80,000.Visit an Francisco International Film Festival’s Official Website
Tags: Bonnie Dennison, Connor Paolo, Danielle Harris, Jim Mickle, Kelly McGillis, Michael Cerveris, Nick Damici, San Francisco International Film Festival, Sean Nelson, SFIFF, Stake Land
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
Pingback: SFIFF 2011: Top 3 Movies (Life, Above All, Hot Coffee and Stake Land) | advancescreenings.com