31 Days of Halloween - Stakeland (2010)

"A horror film set in a vampire-ravaged America? Sounds awesome!" Which is what went through my head when I heard about this movie. I knew it was low budget (under a million) so I didn't expect to see hordes of vampires going up against armies of humans in the ruins of New York (or wherever). I hoped that I’d get something original with a good story and decadent acting. Did it succeed? Keep reading and find out.

Synopsis

The film follows the adventures of Mister (Nick Damici) and Martin (Connor Paolo) as they travel across what's left of America. The night is owned by vampires, depicted in this film as mostly unintelligent, savage monsters. The day is left to the remaining humans. Some are decent, living in functioning fortified settlements. Others are marauders; chief amongst these is Jebedia Loven (Michael Cerveris) and his band of Christian wackos (The Brotherhood) who see the vampires as a holy judgment against man.

The film begins with a flashback to Martin’s family being wiped out by a vampire. He is rescued by Mister, who takes him under his wing and teaches him how to fight the undead. They are heading north, towards some imagined safety in what was once Canada (now known as New Eden). They stop in a town and trade vampire teeth (the new currency) and antibiotics for booze, food, and a haircut. They then run into a pair of Brotherhood douches, who are chasing a nun, "Sister" (an unrecognizable Kelly McGillis), in order to rape her. Mister kills one and leaves the other for dead. It turns out the one he left is the son of Jebedia and he lives just long enough to tell dad who killed him.

Of course, this means that the Brotherhood is now after Mister. They capture him and Jebedia rants about his dead son and how vampires are the instruments of God. Instead of just killing Mister, they leave him in vampire country. Of course, Mister evades the vamps, mostly off-screen, because the set-up makes escape impossible. Martin escapes the Brotherhood camp - he walks away - and meets up with Mister at their car.

They find a roadhouse, hang out for drinks, and pick up a pregnant chick, Belle (the oh-so-hot Danielle Harris). They head to another settlement, where the Brotherhood stages a pretty creative attack; dropping vampires into the town from a helicopter. The group - now including Sister, who escaped to the town and Willie (Sean Nelson) a former Marine - keeps heading north. During the journey, Sister and Willie are killed. Jebedia, who has been turned into a vampire, is stalking them. He kidnaps Belle and uses her as bait. Mister has a final confrontation with Jebedia. The surprisingly articulate vampire is killed as is Belle. Continuing north, the duo finds another random chick, Peggy (Bonnie Dennison). Mister leaves Martin and Peggy to wander Stakeland alone. Our young couple arrives in Canada, heading towards an uncertain future. The end.

Analysis

I have mixed feelings about Stakeland. It features some decent acting, particularly from Danielle Harris. The film looks good; the cinematography is top notch and the film creates a believable visual setting for apocalyptic America. The effects are mostly good; some are a little rubbery, but given the budget, this is not a major problem. There are some good ideas (e.g., vampire teeth being used as a form of currency) and nice set-pieces. The vampires being dropped into the town is a neat idea and is well executed.

Also, the interaction between Mister and Martin is pretty good. The dialogue is okay (although there are a lot of cliches tossed in) and the acting isn't bad. Since this is more of a character driven story (as opposed to plot driven), this interaction is a strong point of the film.

However.

The film suffers from being nearly plotless. The story meanders and has no real direction. It is little more than a series of set-pieces strung together. The ultimate goal - New Eden - is so poorly defined that it is not a strong motivation for the quest storyline. The movie drags near the end, with seemingly endless scenes of people wandering through the woods. A lot of the dialogue is cliched, either tough guy talk or the stereotypical Christian blather from the religious nutjobs.

Although the movie looks good, there are moments - like a nighttime standoff in a junkyard that is brightly lit, even though there should be no source of light - that really detract from the film. Some of the plot elements - like Jebedia leaving Mister to be killed by vampires or retaining his intelligence when he becomes a vampire that make little sense. There are a lot of scenes that don't make much sense. There is one in particular that involves Martin, a charging vampire and Mister suddenly pulling him into the trunk of the car that is so dumb, so obviously a ploy to generate tension, that it is offensive,

There is also a lot of narration from Martin. Far too much. Many things that should either be shown or actually are shown are also yammered about by Martin. This is a bad idea. Movies should never resort to narration when images or dialogue can handle the same task. There are some exposition dumps from Mister and Willie that work okay and seem like natural ways to convey story elements. However, the narration leads to questions like; who is Martin talking too? Why is he telling us that the government has collapsed when we can clearly see that? Why bother telling us about the religious fanatics when we are shown all we need to know when the characters meet them? And it is never a good idea to have a character use narration to describe inner feelings. It's sloppy, lazy and annoying. Want a good example of how to world build without narration? Check out the opening credit sequence from Snyder's Dawn of the Dead

Verdict

For all its flaws, Stakeland is still worth checking out. It is a great idea and, when one considers the budget, an impressive looking film. If only the filmmakers had come up with a stronger plot and had trusted their own skills to tell a story visually, instead of relying on clunky narration, it would've been much better. Still, it gets a weak recommendation from me.

Hey, and here's the trailer.