A low-budget horror with real teeth and a smear of early John Carpenter gore, Stake Land has gathered some serious buzz. Empire’s own Kim Newman calls it “a vampire post-apocalypse road movie with blood, brains and heart”, and he’s a man who can spot such a thing at 50 paces. Check out this new clip from the movie to see what he means. Be warned: it’s heavy on the ‘blood’ bit.
Stake Land is the handiwork of Jim Mickle, whose last horror, Mulberry Street, unleashed a rodent apocalypse upon Manhattan. This time it’s a vampocalypse – and on a bigger scale – that sees a handful of survivors trying to stay alive against some serious odds. Among them are grim-faced vampire slayer Mister (Mulberry Street’s Nick Damici), his orphan apprentice (Connor Paolo) and Kelly McGillis's nun.
Set in a broken-down America which nightcrawlers have reduced to an ashen wasteland, **Stakeland **adds the further menace in the nutball shape of religious sect The Brotherhood. The Bible-brandishing extremists have clearly not read from the book of Eli: they believe that the vampires are God’s judgment and should be left to do his bidding. In this scene, this involves ‘coptering them in and dropping them onto the surviving nonbelievers.
Stake Land is out on June 17. Click here for a butcher’s at Empire’s review.