StakeLand Movie Review

I suppose this movie can be described as a horror movie, but it seems to be more of a dark coming of age movie to me.  It is true that the movie is basically a post civilization collapse story with "Vampires", but the plot focuses more on a master vampire hunter training an apprentice to live in the collapsed world. 

The vampires in this movie are a lot more like zombies than anything you can find in contemporary fiction for the most part.  They are unthinking, undead creatures constantly seeking blood and fleeing the sun.  they are a bit stronger than normal humans, but not much, and their main advantage seems to be the fact that they are infectious, and there are a lot of them.  From what I can tell in the movie if you are killed by one your rise as one, but all thought ceases in the transition.  The world is definitely in a new dark age in this film, but there are many examples of communities getting by.

The two main characters in this movie are Martin, the apprentice, and Mister, the master.  The story is told from Martin's point of view and narrated by him.  It doesn't really feel like a horror film because the main characters are so numb to the horror around them that the normal tension is just not there.  Instead it is replaced by the coming of age story of Martins training by Mister.  Don't get me wrong all the elements of a horror movie are there, but they didn't hit me the same way.  

The basic plot of the movie is that Mister and Martin are trying to get to New Eden, which is apparently in Canada, where the cold keeps the vampires at bay.  They travel through a transformed United states fighting vampires, and picking up companions, and enemies along the way.

This movie was interesting, but very dark, and I would not recommend it if you are terribly afraid of vampires or zombies.  If you can get past that it is an interesting take on a coming of age tale, and the background for the setting is very well thought out.

I watched this movie on Netflix via my Roku streaming player.

Iron Sky Movie Review

This is a hilarious science fiction comedy.  The plot can be described simply as Oh My God there are Nazis on the moon, but the hilarity around the plot is what makes the movie.  For starters the person who finds the Nazis on the moon is an American Black male model.  He is only on the moon in the first place because the president, who is an obvious parody of Sarah Palin, came up with the idea to boost her poll numbers with a campaign titled "Black to the moon. Yes We Can."  From this premise the movie only gets funnier.

The special effects in this movie are passable but not spectacular, and so is the acting.  Both could be better but they get the story across.  The movie has something for everyone including orbital space battles.  The science in the film is mostly ok, but as with many small science fiction films doesn't worry about the details.  I am sure if you analyzed every little thing you could find issues with it but mostly the science is either not explained, or relatively simple.  For me there were only a few places where I was not able to maintain suspension of disbelief, and those places made for a good story.

As a B science fiction comedy this movie is a fun show and worth watching on Netflix where I watched it.  If you are looking for a serious science fiction movie this may not be the film for you, but you may want to give it a chance when you are in the mood to laugh.