| Stake Land | |
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Promotional poster |
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| Directed by | Jim Mickle |
| Produced by | Derek Curl Larry Fessenden |
| Written by | Nick Damici Jim Mickle |
| Starring | Danielle Harris Connor Paolo |
| Music by | Jeff Grace |
| Cinematography | Ryan Samul |
| Editing by | Jim Mickle |
| Distributed by | Belladonna Productions Dark Sky Films |
| Release date(s) | September 17, 2010 (Canada) October 1, 2010 (USA) |
| Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $22,970 USD |
Stake Land is a 2010 American post-apocalyptic film directed by Jim Mickle. The plot depicts an orphaned young man being taken under the wing of a vampire hunter known as "Mister".[1]
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The United States is a lost nation. When an epidemic of vampirism strikes, humans find themselves on the run from vicious, feral beasts. Cities are tombs and survivors cling together in rural pockets, fearing nightfall. When his family is slaughtered, young Martin (Connor Paolo) is taken under the wing of a grizzled, wayward hunter (Nick Damici), whose new prey are the undead.
Simply known as Mister, the vampire stalker takes Martin on a journey through the locked-down towns of America's heartland, searching for a better place, while taking down any bloodsuckers that cross their path. Along the way, they recruit fellow travellers, including a nun (Kelly McGillis), who is caught in a crisis of faith when her followers turn into ravenous beasts. This ragtag family unit cautiously moves north, avoiding major thoroughfares that have been seized by The Brotherhood, a fundamentalist militia, headed by Jebedia Loven (Michael Cerveris) that interprets the plague as the Lord's work.[2]
When Mister kills the son of Jebedia, who was trying to rape the nun, the group is captured by The Brotherhood and, as punishment, Mister is left at the mercy of a group of vampires. Later, Martin escapes and discovers that Mister has somehow survived the vampire attack. They drive off together, picking up a hitch-hiker, Belle, who is pregnant. Later, they pick up Willie, a marine, who is found hiding in a workmen's toilet. The four of them later come across, and overpower, Jebedia, whom they tie to a tree and leave for the vampires. The group is soon reunited with the nun in a US Survivor Camp but, later that night, celebrations are interrupted when the Brotherhood, using helicopters, drops vampires into the camp.
The next day, the group decides to move on towards the north again. Midway, their car breaks down and they have to continue their journey on foot. The nun, while being chased by vampires, shoots herself in the head, and Willie is killed by Jebedia, who has now become a vampire. Jebedia then tortures and kills Belle; Jebedia is killed by Mister and Martin.
The duo then heads north again, in a pickup truck, where they meet 'Peggy' in a roadside restaurant. Martin and Peggy get close to each other and when Mister realizes this, he decides to leave them to continue the journey on their own. Martin finds Mister's skull locket hanging from the truck's mirror as a souvenir. Both Martin and Peggy then head to Canada, which is now known as 'New Eden'.
The movie has received fairly positive reviews with the site Rotten Tomatoes giving the film a 'fresh' 78% rating from 48 reviews.[3] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 stars out of 4, calling it "a good looking, well-played and atmospheric apocalyptic vision."[4]
The film opened on one screen on 22 April 2011, and made $10,032 in its first week. In its second week the film expanded to five screens and made an additional $12,938, bringing the gross to $22,970 as of 5 May 2011.[5]