Optiluiz here on this spooky Monday for yet another Weekly Movie Review. This week, as a special halloween treat, I'll review 'Stake Land'. Stake Land is a post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Jim Mickle. In this movie, civilization has been destroyed by a vampire epidemic, and a young boy is 'adopted' by a man named 'Mister' who proceeds to train him in the art of vampire hunting.
Apparently, this is an indie film, and didn't geta very wide release, although the overall production value does not hint at the modest budget at all. However, don't go in expecting your usual aristocratic vampires. The vampires here are more like zombies if anything else, but with some "30 Days of Night" elements. I guess you could say that Stake Land is Zombieland without the sense of humor, and that's a good thing (although I enjoyed Zombieland very much).
This was a refreshing story in what has become an over-saturated genre. The direction was solid, and so was the acting, for the most part. The script was pretty good too. Things got a bit flimsy towards the end, but the film still ends on a strong note. It's a real shame that this didn't get a bigger release. It's not that scary, but the movie has an overall dreary atmosphere, and is really effective in the special effects department.
If you're looking for some quality frights this Halloween, I highly recommend Stake Land. It's not perfect by any means, but it's great, gory fun. All in all, 7.5/10. It would be an 8 purely for the good time I had watching it, but as a critic I had to take some points off. That concludes today's movie review. I leave you with Stake Land's trailer.
-Optiluiz out...
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