Stakeland

Plot:America has fallen. A vampire scourge sweeps the nation,turning brother on brother and parent on child. It's hard for the survivors to know whether to be more afraid of one another or the blood thirsty beasts.

Review: Vampires have become a staple in pop culture for the last few years. Dozens of films depicting them come out a year, some great( let the right one in) some bad (Twilight). So why should you as a viewer care if one more low budget indepentent vampire film hits the self? Let me tell you why.

Stakeland was a film that I wanted to check out for a while. It garnered some great reviews. After viewing it I can tell you why, it worked. Unlike many "modern vampire" films these are mean, scary, and primitive vampires instead of whiney hopeless romantics. Now I know as well as the next guy vampires are a "romantic" monster ever since 1932's Dracula. They have been treated so terribly in that reguard recently, that I have grown sick of that aspect of vampires. Now to my surprise this vampire film does not feature vampires prominently. They are the ever binding disaster that made the world the way it is. So a vampire movie that does show vampires much, so you may ask what makes it work so well then? Much like romero film of the past and even the recent remake of the crazies it shows humans as the real threat, and its done pretty well.Its pacing and its atmosphere are done near perfectly. It makes you feel like you have stepped into a hopeless world, it's dark, and grungy. The pacing feels similar to films such as 28 days later or The Road. Slow build with emotion backing it up. This is a surprisingly tender film. Unlike many horror films of this generation deaths actually mean something. Characters die and the supporting cast show the emotion of loss.

Now this isn't a perfect film, it does have a few flaws. There is a moment towards the end of the film where a character shows up that doesn't fit the idea of the film. Mainly it's a intelligent vampire, there's no reason for him and he almost seems silly given the direction of the film, which is a shame because it's during the films darkest scene so it takes away from the scene. There is another rather silly scene that happens when a crazed religious group drops vampires from a helicopter onto a unexpecting settlement. It's handled decently enough that the silliness of it does extend past the overall idea of it.

My final thoughts are this it's a great nonstandard vampire film that has great acting, great soundtrack and a great atmosphere. It does have a bit of silliness that hampers a scene or two.

8.75 / 10 A very good film that is just shy of masterpiece. One of Americas best vampire films in the recent years. Give it a shot.