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Cast

Connor Paolo
as Martin

Nick Damici
as Mister

Laura Abramsen
as Lady

A.C. Peterson
as Bat

Bonnie Dennison
as Peggy

Critic Reviews for Stake Land II

Audience Reviews for Stake Land II

• May 17, 2017

  Finally able to review this movie. Feels like it's been forever since I wrote one of these. Do people still laugh out there in the world? That is, of course, a joke. It's only been two days since I wrote a review. Did not watch a film yesterday, I had plans, but things happened that were out of my control and I ended up watching the Simpsons on FXX instead. But I digress, on to this review. Do not know quite what to make of this film. While I'm certainly glad to see Martin and Mister again, even if I wasn't infatuated with the former in the first flick, I honestly remember very little from the first flick. I do very much remember the fact that I felt that it played out more like a TV pilot instead of a film. And I didn't mean that in a derogatory manner, I just mean that the way the story was set up made you believe that there was gonna be a continuation in the future in the form of a series. I still think that it can become a television series if Nick Damici really sets his mind on it. But enough of my tangents, the issue at hand is this movie. Admittedly speaking, I was a little mixed on my thoughts as I was watching this movie. Even halfway through I was like, this is fine, but it's not what I would call good. Yet, somehow, when I was done with this, I came to the conclusion that this was, indeed, a pretty good movie. I think part of the issue some people will have with this is the fact that, outside of the climax which is a little more action heavy, there's very little gore here. And for a movie that deals with a zombie-esque like virus that turns people into rabid vampires that might turn some people off. Not to mention the fact that this being a sequel, it might not feel as fresh as the original did to fans. Honestly, there's really not much that is different from the first movie to this one, at least in terms of tone and the world. It's still the same world and nothing has really changed. Humanity is still scattered about, with a few groups setting up shop in a variety of places. I will say that I found this movie to deal with more melancholic themes than the first one. As far as I can remember, the first flick was more about surviving this harsh new world, where Martin and Mister fought off various groups that were trying to hunt them down. This movie still has some of that, to a degree, but it's a movie that's more about loss than anything else. Martin's wife and daughter were killed very early on in the film and he is on the search for Mister, who's the only one who can help him exact revenge on the vampire, the leader of this religious cult who worships her as god's tool to eradicate the world of sin. Oh and this vampire, somehow, managed to birth a vampire child. They really don't explain this and it's something I wish they had, because this seems like a pretty big fucking deal. Anyway, the point is that Mister killed this vampire's baby. This vampire, whose name I forget if she even was named, then used Martin (by way of killing his wife and daughter) to lure Mister out of hiding. So, again, every involved has suffered some measure of loss. Even Mister, whose wife and daughter, I'm assuming, died when the plague began. And I honestly liked that approach, it gives you more of an insight into these characters and their thought processes. Hell, even the 'villain' of the film is justified in wanting to murder Mister. That's part of the reason why I ended up liking this movie, I went back and actually thought about what I saw and I found that this was a well-written movie with solid characters. They may not be the most complex, but they're at least given motivations that make sense. Nick Damici as Mister is great. Damici is a really damn underrated actor and screenwriter too. He's written some episodes on Hap and Leonard, and he also co-created it with frequent collaborator Jim Mickle. I haven't seen Hap and Leonard, though I hear it's good, but everything that Damici has had a hand in writing, in terms of films, I've liked. I'm sure he's glad sticking to smaller projects, I'm certain that he likes the control and creative freedom he's allowed, but I wish he was more well-known as a screenwriter and thrown more projects his way. Who knows, maybe he has and he's just rejected them all? Either way, keep doing what you're doing Nick, you're doing a mighty good job at it. Cast is good all around, nothing to complain about here. And, this is something I found out just now as I was writing this review, but this was a SyFy original movie. Something that I can't believe. Granted, it wasn't something that SyFy's own people made, I think they may have just bought the rights to air it, but it might be SyFy's best original movie in, maybe, forever. I wouldn't count the Battlestar Galactica reboot pilot, which is really a miniseries. If you were to count that, then Stake Land 2 would be the second best. But, yes, I didn't expect this as I was watching this movie, but I did enjoy this quite a bit. It's not perfect and while the movie tries to catch you up on the events of the first one, you really should watch it before this one, it adds more context. With that said, this was a pretty good movie and I would certainly recommend it for fans of the original. It might be more of the same, but it's still an enjoyable genre flick.
  Jesse O Super Reviewer

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