ZaFeesh Yeah this movie isn't all that great, but some are calling it the worst horror film of the decade, but I wouldn't call it that, not by a long shot, that honor goes to Zombie Nation (no I don't mean the TV series) that movie is a steaming pile of crap and more then deserves its rating of 2.1/10. Anyways the thing I didn't like the most about Stake Land is that it has a lot of plot holes, like Mister who is supposed to be some expert hunter, yet he goes and leaves a sleeping, pregnant girl alone, I mean come on! And the sister wasn't having any trouble keeping up, but she just suddenly decides to commit suicide?!? She was with Mister and Martin, so wasn't able to see that the girl had fallen behind, so she wasn't doing it to help her get away. Also Mister had been obsessed with getting both himself and Martin to New Eden, but when they are finally within reach of it, he just goes off and leaves him? Would of made way more sense for Mister to make sure he at least got there, even if Mister no longer wanted to stay. Plus the dialogue just didn't feel natural a lot of the time, seemed like people said things that one wouldn't actually say. Also the tone of the film was very serious, it wasn't trying to be one of those "so stupid it's funny" movies, it was trying to be serious, yet it was very cheesy at times, like that cop saluting Mister as he rode off into the distance, I actually laughed out loud at that. I realize this movie was done on a small budget, but still the really cheap sound affects detracted from the film as well, as did the many different firearms mistakes. However considering the small budget I was impressed with the quality of the special affects. I think this movie's strongest point is the character development, that was pretty well written. I was genuinely sad when Martin had to kill the girl.

Stephane Benoit This film received too many compliments that are not in my opinion deserved. Some even presented this film as being better than The Road. It's intentional exaggeration. This film is not serious at all, you cannot compare it to The Road. They tried to invent a new style of zombies, by calling them "vampires" and making them hard to kill, but seriously, it's a good try but it's a major failure. It did not work. It is absurd. The construction of the film is chaotic and disjointed. The basis of the story is missing or greatly inadequate. We really don't understand why a sickness like that emerge in the hole world, so how the hell do they expect us to follow the story. I give a 5 to this movie because it's not a total failure, but it is not a good film.

GL84 After a devastating plague has reduced most of mankind to a vampiric state with small, isolated pockets remaining, a small group tries to survive a series of encounters with a ravenous group of vampires that started the apocalypse.This one was an enjoyable enough effort though it does have some flaws. One of it's biggest positives is the rather inventive take here on the vampire genre by melding it onto a post-apocalyptic setting usually reserved for zombie. While this does manage to inflict the creatures with some zombie-like behavior in their creation through a virus and their animalistic, savage behavior driving their attacks rather than the intelligent, cunning types usually portrayed in this kind of effort, there's a rather fun amount of time here with this ravenous new attitude. By featuring this type of attitude and really working on the aggressiveness here, this one manages to come up with some rather enjoyable actions scenes including the opening in the barn that brings them together, a vicious battle with the creatures at a remote farmhouse and a rather thrilling attack on a peaceful community that really serves as quite the highlight attack for all the chaos and action presented. Aside from the action, this one has plenty of impressive gore to really help this out as well though there's some additional bloodshed spread throughout this in the forest encounter with the creatures as well as the pretty good finale battle in an underground lair. There's enough here with this to be a lot of fun but it's not without problems, first and foremost among them the idea that a fundamentalist religious group is behind it all. The story aspects of this feature make no sense at all and is completely illogical to be done here for their whole plan is predicated on the idea of controlling such creatures and having them being controlled when there's not any shred of evidence that says otherwise. Not only that, but the concept of using these creatures as a harbinger of the apocalypse isn't the slightly bit rational and conflicts with the rest of the story rather badly. The last flaw here is the narration of the main character all throughout here, which really causes a lot of irritation problems throughout the first half by providing a lot of useless points over and over so it really turns into an overblown tactics that does nothing for the film. These hold it down a touch, but overall this one has enough to like to overcome this.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity.

CinemaClown From the director of Cold in July & We Are What We Are, Stake Land is Jim Mickle's sophomore effort and one of the most interesting post-apocalyptic horrors to come out in the recent years for it is expertly staged & brilliantly acted, and despite its low budget features an impressive production design, excellent make-up & practical effects.Stake Land presents a world that has been run over by vampires, leaving behind only a handful of survivors. The story is seen through the eyes of an orphaned young man who is taken under the wing of a vampire hunter & learns how to kill them. As the two head north looking for a safe haven, they are joined by more survivors while their peril deepens.Co-written & directed by Jim Mickle, Stake Land feels incredibly fresh despite following a similar road of zombie apocalypse genre. Cinematography adds an atmospheric tension to the plot while capturing every event in fine detail, Editing excellently paces its narrative from start to finish & Jeff Grace's score plays an important role in further elevating its tense mood.Coming to the performances, Stake Land features Nick Damici (who has co-written & acted in every Mickle film so far) in the starring role of Mister; a vampire hunter who along with Martin (Connor Paolo) is heading north to escape from the vampires. Rest of its supporting cast is no slouch for they fill in ably in their given roles while Paolo does a fine job in narrating the whole premise.On an overall scale, Stake Land doesn't bring anything new to the genre but nails the old- school style so well that it's worthy of admiration. The characterization part is handled amazingly well, the plot tries to avoid the genre-clichés wherever possible & is a work of quality in every department. Gripping, entertaining & satisfying, Stake Land is another fab indie from Jim Mickle & comes recommended.