Stakeland

Stakeland

Director: Jim Mickle

Rating: 1 (3) /5 Stars

Reviewer: Todd

Stakeland was an interesting drama set in a dystopian world right after the fall of our current society. It displayed the dualistic sides of humanity’s potential: the side that would welcome their fellows and the side that would desire to subjugate anyone not under their sway.  The story focuses through the main character Martin as he travels with “Mister”, a man able to survive in this new age and trains Martin to do so,  to fulfill a promise to get Martin to safety. Along their way they meet others trying to get to the safe haven in the north called Eden. But their travels between the safe havens are plagued by The Brotherhood who had a hand bringing the world to the state it is in. The Brotherhood see themselves as superior and given the right to commit horrendous atrocities against people for race, faith, or not submitting to them by God. Hunted, not everyone survives the perilous journey to Eden. It’s a story of the struggle to remain alive and sane with this small band of people who forge themselves into a family.

That’s the good news about Stakeland. The bad news is that it’s not just a dystopian horror film. It’s also a zombie apocalypse film filled with vampires instead of zombies. The end of the world, not just western society, happened because of these creatures.  The safe havens are all about being protected from the vampires, not just the people who want to attack others for various reasons. What’s learned about the vampires when viewed as a whole makes little sense because with a little logic it makes their threat levels confounding and makes it hard to suspend disbelief.

Because the main focus of the movie is the vampire element I have to give the movie one star, but  If I were to rate it solely on the horror and drama from the human elements I’d give it a solid three stars.