Stake Land
Hamburger Town
The zombie apocalypse vein of horror stories has become well-worn in
recent years. Thanks to the popularity of Left 4 Dead, 28 Days Later
and The Walking Dead, just about everyone knows what a zombie
outbreak would look like. As much as I love the genre, it's been done
to death. It's in television, movies, books, video games, and even on
t-shirts. This poses the problem for writers and filmmakers. How do
we have a zombie apocalypse without being a zombie apocalypse? Take
out the zombies and put in vampires! Problem solved!
Stake Land is a 2010 vampire movie starring Nick Damici (Mulberry St,
World Trade Center) as the enigmatic Mister and Connor Paolo (Gossip
Girl, Revenge) as Martin. A wave of vampires has spread across the
world as humans try to save themselves. The government has fallen and
only small towns remain. A young man named Martin is saved by the
vampire hunter Mister after a vampire kills his family. Mister trains
Martin to kill vampires, explaining that guns hurt them, but stakes
to the heart kill them. They travel through America's heartland on
the way to the supposed safe-haven of New Eden in Canada. The visit
small towns where people are still trying to live their lives amidst
the carnage. One day, a nun runs in front of their car, pursued by
two men in robes. Mister kills the two men and the nun, only known as
Sister (Kelly McGillis, Top Gun, The Innkeepers), joins Mister and
Martin on their journey. They stop in one seemingly-abandoned town
only to be captured by members of The Brotherhood, a Christian cult,
that has been taking over the country through violence. Their leader,
Jebedia Loven (Michael Cerveris, The Vampire's Assistant, Fringe),
reveals that one of the men that Mister had killed was his son.
Mister is left in front of vampires in the woods while Martin and
Sister are taken back to camp. Loven allows Martin to leave, who
manages to find Mister still alive. They continue to make their way
when they pick up another traveler, a pregnant girl named Belle
(Danielle Harris, Halloween II, Left For Dead) and a marine named
Willie (Sean Nelson, The Freebie, The Wood). They return to where The
Brotherhood was camped and Mister leaves Loven to be eaten by
vampires. The group manages to find Sister in a small town, but the
Brotherhood drops vampires into the town via helicopter. How will
Mister and Martin survive and will they ever reach New Eden?
I prefer my steak medium well, not stuffed into a vampire's mouth
Before I get into things like the acting and violence in the movie, I
have to address two very big plot devices: Politics and Religion. The
movie has a huge Libertarian bent to it, to the point where they
might as well be smacking the audience in the face with a copy of
Atlas Shrugged. I don't buy into the cult of Ayn Rand and Ron Paul,
so having to sit through a movie where a) the government folds faster
than Superman on laundry day, b) towns and villagers still exist
through self-regulation and C) everyone is thrilled that the
government is gone is downright silly. The world may be coming to an
end, but everyone is thrilled to have their guns, liquor, and drugs.
If the movie had been subtle about this, it wouldn't have been such a
big sticking point, but there's nothing subtle about Stake Land. That
brings me to my second point on religion. Just like with
libertarians, I am no fan of the fanatical Christian Right. Making
the villains (besides the vampires) into religious zealots is fine,
but making them specifically evil Christians came off as a bit
vindictive. Combine that with the character of Sister giving her
cross to Martin, carrying around a mini figure of Mary, and then
pairing it with a mini Jesus and I've had my fill. The least subtle
moment of the movie comes when Sister runs into a skeleton literally
crucified in a corn field. Subtley is a virtue and Stake Land takes
that virtue out back and clubs it in the head with a shovel. There is
even a scene where a bartender tells Mister that they don't talk
about politics or religion inside the bar. Oh that's good because
you're so busy doing that for the other 96 minutes of the movie.
Look, I appreciate social commentary in horror movies, but there is a
certain way to get your points across without coming off the like a
propaganda film.
The story, written by Nick Damici and director Jim Mickle, plays out
like every other zombie apocalypse film and just replaces the zombies
with vampires. It's never explained why the vampire plague started or
where they came from, which I found annoying. At least give me some
hints. Characters just kind of drop in and drop out with very little
in the way of development. A new character is introduced as Martin's
love interest literally 7 minutes before the film ends. What the
hell? And really, did you have to name the one African American
character “Willie”? The final battle scene, which you'd expect to
be long and drawn out, takes about 4 minutes to finish. I will say
that the movie did have a lot of good action with plenty of bloody
violence. The acting is good and the Jim Mickle crafts a good-looking
and atmospheric movie. The location scout deserves credit as many of
the scenes look straight out of an apocalypse. There are lots of
abandoned buildings and worn-out backgrounds which are fun to see.
SUBTLETY!!!!
The action and violence in Stake Land is perfectly fine. It's
entertaining and thrilling to watch and would make horror fans squeal
with bloody glee. The acting and direction isn't the problem either.
It's the slanted writing with an obvious agenda that really gets to
me. I hate the politics and don't enjoy having it slap me in the
face. There are no anti-Christian overtones, just anti-Christian
tones. If these two themes had been subtle and cleverly written, it
wouldn't be such a big deal. There is nothing subtle about this movie
though and it makes everything that much worse. There plenty of holes
in the story, and issues throughout, like “if Martin is being
trained, why can he never kill a vampire?” If you're able to ignore
things things like this, you'll really enjoy Stake Land. If you're
like me, you'll be annoyed and frustrated at a movie that couldn't
just leave well enough alone and be a horror movie.
5/10
Very interesting take on it. I can honestly say that I did not get the same Libertarian vibe from it that you did. There being some outpost towns and that the government fell is a trope of the post-apocalyptic sub-genre so I just rolled with it. I suppose that the fact that the one town that did not allow its citizens to carry guns was quickly destroyed is an interesting aspect, but I would hardly say that anybody outside the Brotherhood were in any way happy about the situation.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I felt like if it takes place in the US and the fanatical religious group is NOT Christians, it would be disingenuous.
For the overall movie, I thought that it was good but lacking. It was close to the movie that Zombieland should have been (you know, instead of a terrible sitcom pilot with a bigger budget). I thought they really nailed a lot of the drab hopelessness of the situation, and were pretty merciless to the characters (who I had come to like). I had no problem with there not being an explanation, as going all the way back to the roots of the genre, the reason is irrelevant, all that matters is that it is happening and how people are reacting now.
Different strokes for different folks. I still did not like it enough to buy it, but thought it was definitely above average.
Hey Rob. Thanks for the comment. I've studied politics, so I probably feel more sensitive to those issues. If you google "Stake Land libertarian", a few other people have felt the same way. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong, but the movie seemed a little too eager to slam the government while showing how well everyone is getting on with out in the tiny towns. Even when they go to the town that's eventually attacked, travelers are more than happy to give up their weapons. They don't trust the government, but trust random individuals. Like I said, maybe I just read too much into things.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the Christian villains, my issue was more with the lack of subtlety towards how the movie portrayed addressed Christianity. I'm not Christian, so I wasn't offended or anything. It was just blatantly obvious what the movie makers were trying to do, especially when Sister comes across a crucified body. Just too lazy for my tastes.
The action was fun and the scenery was great. I didn't care for the character development (or lack thereof). Originally, I was going to give the movie a higher rating, but the more I wrote, the more I realized how many problems the movie had.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, because it's a well-made movie and deserves an audience. Thanks again for the comment!