Jim Mickle’s second feature film Stake Land, a new vampire movie, follows a group of survivors of a vampire war as they attempt to get to safety. Written by Mickle and the film’s star, Nick Damici, this film has a go at revamping an old concept – the horror road movie.
When Martin’s (Connor Paolo) family are slaughtered by the wave of vampires that have swept across the country, he’s taken in by the mysterious Mister (Damici), who teaches him how to defend himself against attacks. Together they travel north, in the hopes of finding ‘New Eden’, a rumoured safe haven, but the road is fraught with difficulties as they realise that it’s not only the undead that are hunting them.
The concept of Mickle’s second movie, about a man and a boy travelling across America trying to find a safe haven away from an undead enemy and a very living foe, is something that has already been attempted, with the comedy Zombieland being the most famous example. But Stake Land is obviously not a film designed to create a few cheap laughs, and with scenes of extreme violence, including torture, rape and infanticide, this film is definitely not for those who are easily shocked. Beyond the violence, however, this is a post-apocalyptic drama that reveals that your worst enemy is often a lot closer than you might think. Mistrust, betrayal and the beginning of adulthood are just a few of the themes that make up this dark representation of a world at war with both the undead and the living. However, while Mickle is to be commended for his brutal piece on the collapse of modern society, there is something a little haphazard about his representation of women throughout the film. Treated as victims, mothers or merely a pretty face, the role of the female in Stake Land is both sidelined and clichéd as Mickle and Damici have created a world that a woman can seemingly not survive in without a man to protect her. While this film may be lacking in the gender equality department, it’s still, for the most part, a foreboding road movie that’s not only beautifully shot, it also has the power to scare.