STAKE LAND Movie Review

I think we can all agree that there's been an abundance of post-apocalyptic movies floating around lately. Post apocalypse, zombies, cannibals, vampires, disease; they're all themes that have been played into extinction (ahem, no pun intended). Yet newcomer Jim Mickle takes all of these horror facets and rolls it into one tightly directed, well paced, creepy, gory little film.

Martin (played by Connor Paolo) is a young boy when the apocalypse wipes out civilization as we know it in the United States. His family is attacked and he is rescued by a man who simply calls himself "Mister" (played by Nick Damici). Now orphaned, Mister brings him along on his quest to drive to the North, where he hopes to find New Eden, an oasis from the world now run by vampires, neo-religious cults and renegade cannibals. He teaches Martin everything he knows about killing vampires and together they hunt and kill them on their journey north. Along the way they make friends who come along with them. As they go they also run into a cult named The Brotherhood, and after escaping and leaving the leader for dead, they continue their journey, only to be stalked by something far more dangerous than vampires...

What I really enjoyed about this film is that it was a story first and a horror movie second. Though there is abundant amounts of gore, violence and horror, it's never gratuitous and often masterfully subtle. Though you root and sympathize with certain characters, not one is safe from being killed off, which makes you believe it even more, since in the real world nobody would be safe. The acting isn't necessarily mind-blowing, but is definitely well done, and the music is both haunting and beautiful. This movie not only made me hungry for Mickle's next project, but rekindled my authentic love for the horror genre that has been missing as of late. It isn't a throwback to better times for horror movies, it's a complete game changer.

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