STAKE LAND is a state of mind. That is to say, you won’t find “Stake Land” on any map – real or fictional. For a man known simply as “Mister”, Stake Land is what America has become after the apocalypse – where humans are mostly a thing of the past and vampires roam the earth in search of the remaining survivors.
Perhaps it sounds a touch familiar. A film called DAYBREAKERS will be released in January (courtesy of Australia’s Spierig brothers), a thriller in which vampires are the norm and people band together in small underground tribes. The difference, aside from several millions of dollars, is that while DAYBREAKERS appears to be a high-tech action ride sporting the glossy sheen of the UNDERWORLD or BLADE flicks, STAKE LAND is a far simpler, emotional tale. Of course, on one level it’s still a blood-and-guts horror show, with elements of the western (“Mister” has more than a little “Man With No Name” in his spirit) and the road movie (our heroes travel great lengths over many seasons during the course of the film).
On the other hand, it’s an almost Rod Serling-esque story about what happens when modern society’s collapse divides the human race into the weak, the strong, and the righteous who seek to use the end of the world to their own gain. In true Serling fashion (not to mention heirs of his like Stephen King and George Romero), the real threat comes not from the blood-thirsty undead, but from the fanatics on a power binge. The apocalypse brings out the worst in a lot of people here in STAKE LAND.
The project comes from the writing team of Jim Mickle and Nick Damici; the duo have been working together for over a decade, although it was MULBERRY ST. – another society-on-the-brink tale made for peanuts in downtown Manhattan – that gained the two some attention almost three years ago. (I don’t mind saying that I was one of the first to hop on the flick’s bandwagon when I saw it at the Tribeca Film Festival.) While MULBERRY was a genuinely independent production, they’ve got a little help on their sophomore effort. Indie genre producer extraordinaire Larry Fessenden is on board, as is production company Dark Sky Entertainment. Fessenden of late has been shepherding some notable young talents along (he produced Ti West’s THE ROOST and THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL) – a mentor as much as a producer. In this instance, it was a deal he struck with Dark Sky to produce a slate of three films in the course of a year that prompted him to seek out Mickle. (It should be noted, however, that Fessenden has a very brief role in MULBERRY ST., as he does in STAKE LAND.)
“Long before I was in MULBERRY ST., I had met Jim and he pitched me some sort of a vampire picture, and I saw his shorts and was totally into working with him,” Fessenden tells me in between set-ups on the set. “Didn’t quite work out, he went and made MULBERRY ST., then when this slate idea came up with Dark Sky, I went straight to Jim.”
Mickle and Damici’s vision is a bleak one: A global spread of vampirism has turned almost the entire population into the blood-sucking undead. A young man named Martin (played by “Gossip Girl” actor Conor Paulo) joins up with a no-nonsense vampire slayer named “Mister” (Damici), whose philosophy of never get too close to anyone is threatened by the new companion. Along the way, the pick up a few stragglers: an ex-soldier named Willie (Sean Nelson), and a nun they simply call “Sister” (Kelly McGillis), whose faith has been challenged – but not yet defeated – by the nightmarish scenario. On their arduous journey to a supposed safe haven up north, the group has to not only contend with swarms of vampires at every turn, but a group of religious fanatics called “The Brotherhood”, led by the Manson-like leader Jebediah (Michael Cervaris).
Not unlike the young horror filmmakers of the late 60s and early 70s, Mickle’s grim concepts have been heavily influenced by the times. “I think it was written right around the time of the elections,” Mickle says. “That, and the economy was in the news… and swine flu. All at the same time, so it became kind of a muse, we always had these action scenes, but now all of a sudden it had this backstory and characters and setting… You look at the news, and get inspired by that. I heard a lot of people saying ‘Ah you’re ripping that off’. It’s like, no, we’re just all inspired by the same shit.”
“If society failed, how long would it take us to fall back to feudal times?” Damici says, explaining their central thesis. The actor explained to me that the movie’s interesting hook is that different sections of the country have regressed in different ways. Essentially, as Mister and his crew travel further, they pass through various eras of the country’s history – almost going back in time if you will. The Depression, the Civil Rights era, the Salem Witch Trials, etc. The further into the wilderness they go, the further “back in time” they go. Naturally, the farther back you go, the more you can forget such things as propriety and sanity.
On the day I visited the set (in Pine Hills, New York – far away from the lights and noise of the city), the crew was shooting a scene in which Mister, Martin, and Willie enter a small town called “Strivingtown”, which is something of a safe zone. A fully functional hamlet where no guns are allowed, but the people are generous with their food and drink. In the town they meet up with a young pregnant woman named Belle – played by Danielle Harris.
The actress (whom you no doubt know from four Halloween films) wore a small lump under her shirt when I had a brief chat with her, signifying she was no more than a couple months “pregnant”. “Free spirit, Suzy-Homemaker trying to round up the rowdy group of boys”, is how Harris initially describes Belle. “Kind of the odd man out with a bunch of burly men. Making a home and keeping the peace and trying to be positive through all of it.”
“Strivingtown” needs more people, I’m done up as a dirty townsperson. (Flashbacks of my memorable 100 FEET walk-on.) Given a ratty denim jacket to wear, my face smudged with make-up, I’m assigned the difficult task of crossing a road for ten seconds. Got to admit – I nail it… I’m not the only one without a SAG card called upon though; dozens of people from surrounding towns have joined the production, being outfitted with suitably post-apocalyptic wear and dusted with baby powder. They all have huge smiles on their faces, as this is perhaps as close to “Hollywood” as they’ve come. Later, in a bar scene, all the extras happily sit around enjoying (free) beer while the crew decides how to use them. Yes, indie sets are usually a lot more fun than big-budget ones – especially when the producers want to do right be the town they’re invading.
What else occurred that day: A quick set-up in an attic – a somber moment where the group sits and waits out an unseen vampire attack (and deal with the consequences of a friend’s demise) – and a small sequence where Danielle Harris sings a little ditty in the bar (she’s got a lovely voice) were pretty much how the day wrapped up for me. Films like this one don’t have the luxury of shooting 1/4 of a page a day like a studio film does, so they’re constantly on the move, sometimes shooting 12-14 hours a day, deep into the chilly night. Of course, for a crew this young (I’d estimate the average age is early 30s), that’s a piece of cake, calling back the old film school days.
What do I walk away from STAKE LAND thinking? I’m thinking this is an ambitious, thoughtful project with a lot of potential. Am I hesitant to declare it a “can’t miss”? Yes, certainly. Do I have faith? Amen.
Stay tuned for more from the STAKE LAND set !