I couldn’t fairly justify saying Stake Land is a futuristic romp through a vampire plagued wasteland, quite honestly the imagery that statement suggests is the exact opposite to the type of universe Stake Land festers in. Stake Land is much more than that, set in what could best be described as a bleak tomorrow, the film follows a small handful of survivors lead by a mysterious man only referred to as “Mister”, who bares many similarities to a Mickey Rourke archetype. Thankfully the archetype of this character is where the “Mickey” similarities stop, leaving behind the expertly handled bad-ass persona to a less recognized Nick Damici. Mister is joined by Martin (Connor Paolo), a young man orphaned by this apocalypse whom Mister un-intentionally and un-characteristically has become a father figure to through an unspoken pact to survive. Through every town they pass the two grow closer with every challenge faced, and the skills passed onto Martin start becoming almost second nature to the young man while struggling through the morality of ending any kind of life, be it dangerous or not. Along the journey the two gather survivors from across the country including a nun, whom has escaped from the new religion’s congregation that has easily swept the land recruiting the masses from a desperate society looking for answers, and a pregnant small town girl (played by genre heavy weight, Daniel Harris) who dreams of reaching the “New Eden” all survivors have been promised to exist across the boarders of Canada. Stake Land wisely steps aside from the over the top aesthetic of the big budget sci-fi/horror genre that’s been pumped into the theatres recently for a gritty more real approach. Director Jim Mickles puts high octane action and flashy visuals in the back seat to honest character development, and story telling which is too often vacant, causing wasted potential in this over saturated genre. That’s not to say the visuals aren’t impressive however, as everything looks and feels perfect for this world building around us.
There’s so much going on in Stake Land it reminded me of one of those console RPG games that take 100+ hours to complete. Somehow the makers behind Stake Land managed to capture that same endless world feel and dedication found in those role playing games and bottled the whole experience in a little over an hour and a half for your consumption.
