Stake Land
Dir: Jim Mickle
2010
****
So many horror films these days stick to their genre specifics. Some change the rules to great effect while others take it too far and stink up the straight to video market. Stake Land does something quite simple and executes it subtly enough to be almost revolutionary in horror circles. The bad guys are vampires who act like zombies and vice versa in many respects. It plays the fear of infection card brilliantly and also works as a post-apocalypse movie too. It works in every aspect and even questions subjects of religion, society and apathy, subtly though of course. The horror isn't in the blood, the death or the dark, it's in the hopelessness. The symbolism of our capitalist and consumer society is unmistakable, who are the zombies and who are the vampires, that's the real horror. Stake Land is an underrated horror (future) classic.