# Stake Land
**Stake Land** is a 2010 American post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Jim Mickle, in which a teenage orphan and a hardened vampire hunter travel north across a vampire-ravaged United States in search of a rumored safe haven called New Eden.[1](https://darkskyfilms.com/film/stake-land/) It premiered at the 2010 [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival), where it won the Midnight Madness Award, and received a limited theatrical release in the United States on April 22, 2011 from Dark Sky Films.[1](https://darkskyfilms.com/film/stake-land/) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stake_land)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writers | Jim Mickle; screenplay by Nick Damici and Jim Mickle[3](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/32-torino-film-festival/film/stake-land/20830/) |
| Year, runtime, language | 2010, 98 minutes, English[1](https://darkskyfilms.com/film/stake-land/) |
| Principal cast | Connor Paolo (Martin), Nick Damici (Mister), Kelly McGillis (Sister), Danielle Harris (Belle), Michael Cerveris (Jebedia Loven), Sean Nelson (Willie)[1](https://darkskyfilms.com/film/stake-land/) • [3](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/32-torino-film-festival/film/stake-land/20830/) |
| Production | Glass Eye Pix and Dark Sky Films; producers Derek Curl and Larry Fessenden; cinematography by Ryan Samul; music by Jeff Grace[3](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/32-torino-film-festival/film/stake-land/20830/) |
| Festival recognition | Winner, Midnight Madness Award, Toronto International Film Festival 2010[1](https://darkskyfilms.com/film/stake-land/) |
| US release and gross | Limited theatrical release April 22, 2011; US box office $18.5K; rated R[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stake_land) |
| Critical scores | 75% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 65 reviews; Metacritic score 66, "generally favorable"[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stake_land) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/stake-land/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and setting
In the film's scenario, America has collapsed after economic and political disaster, and a vampire epidemic has swept across the country's abandoned towns and cities. Martin ([Connor Paolo](https://www.edgepedia.org/connor-paolo)), a rural teenager, watches his family killed in a vampire attack and is rescued by a taciturn vampire hunter known only as Mister (Nick Damici). The two head north toward Canada, the rumored vamp-free haven called New Eden, picking up other survivors along the way and passing through self-governing "lock-down" towns.[1](https://darkskyfilms.com/film/stake-land/) • [5](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/16/stake-land-review) • [6](https://www.kqed.org/arts/52391/stake_land_is_your_land_if_youre_feeling_bitey)
The vampires are deliberately non-traditional. They neither seduce humans nor speak at all; they behave as feral, bloodthirsty animals, closer to zombies than to the caped figures of older vampire cinema.[7](https://www.moviemaker.com/stake-land-nick-damici-jim-mickle-vampire-kelly-mcgillis-20110419/) Mickle said his aim at screenings was plainly "to make vampires scary again" during a period when sympathetic, romanticized vampires dominated the genre.[8](https://www.notcoming.com/reviews/stakeland/)
Among the survivors Mister and Martin meet are Belle, a pregnant teenager played by [Danielle Harris](https://www.edgepedia.org/danielle-harris), and a nun called Sister, played by [Kelly McGillis](https://www.edgepedia.org/kelly-mcgillis), a role that marked her return to feature film work after an absence of nearly a decade. The most dangerous human antagonists are a fundamentalist religious cult, the [Brotherhood](https://www.edgepedia.org/brotherhood), led by Jebedia Loven (Michael Cerveris), whose members treat vampirism as a holy reckoning that will leave only the blessed alive.[7](https://www.moviemaker.com/stake-land-nick-damici-jim-mickle-vampire-kelly-mcgillis-20110419/) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-apr-29-la-et-capsules-20110429-story.html)
## Origins and production
The project began in the summer of 2008 out of frustration: Mickle and Damici had a script that financiers considered too dark and could not get made. Mickle proposed instead an episodic web series of roughly ten-minute installments. Damici sent him about ten pages the next morning, which became the film's opening ten minutes, and wrote webisode scripts until the two had accumulated around 25 of them, about 300 pages. Producer [Larry Fessenden](https://www.edgepedia.org/larry-fessenden) then asked whether the material could become a feature, and Damici spent a weekend weaving the episodes together, adding the post-apocalyptic setting and the Brotherhood storyline to give the film a stronger overall structure.[10](https://bloody-disgusting.com/interviews/24253/interview-stake-land-director-jim-mickle/)
**Casting followed the writing.** Because Damici wrote the role of Mister, he was effectively cast as soon as the character existed; Mickle said he did not want to surround the character with celebrities, and the two leads are played by relatively unknown actors to keep the world believable.[10](https://bloody-disgusting.com/interviews/24253/interview-stake-land-director-jim-mickle/) The filmmaking team had already collaborated on Mickle's debut feature *Mulberry Street* (2006), a zombie-outbreak film, and this was their second feature together.[11](https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/23755/exclusive-nick-damici-talks-stake-land/) Mickle, born in 1979 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, studied at New York University, where he met Damici.[3](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/32-torino-film-festival/film/stake-land/20830/)
Mickle and Damici described the film's tone as a mix of genres: Mickle called it a horror-road trip-western-coming-of-age story, citing [John Carpenter](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-carpenter)'s *The Thing* as his favorite film, while Damici named 1930s horror and films such as *The Wild Bunch* and *Deliverance* among his influences.[7](https://www.moviemaker.com/stake-land-nick-damici-jim-mickle-vampire-kelly-mcgillis-20110419/) Mickle said the 2008 United States election inspired many of the film's themes about religious zealotry and survival politics, and that he wanted a story that would work even with the vampires removed.[12](https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/23680/exclusive-director-jim-mickle-talks-stake-land/)
## Reception
The film premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, where Midnight Madness programmer Colin Geddes described it as "a road movie with fangs," and it won the section's Midnight Madness Award.[1](https://darkskyfilms.com/film/stake-land/) • [13](https://screenanarchy.com/2011/04/stake-land-2010--interview-with-jim-mickle.html) It was acquired by IFC Midnight and released theatrically in limited form in the United States on April 22, 2011, alongside a video-on-demand release.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stake_land) • [14](https://www.deepfocusreview.com/reviews/stake-land/) Its US theatrical gross was $18.5K, and the film found its larger audience on home video and streaming.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stake_land)
Critical response was generally favorable, if uneven. The Rotten Tomatoes consensus credits Mickle with strong characterization and eerie atmosphere that make an apocalyptic vampire film work despite a well-worn genre; on the Tomatometer it stands at 75% from 65 reviews, and Metacritic gives it a 66 based on 15 critic reviews.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stake_land) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/stake-land/) Todd Brown of TwitchFilm called it "the American horror film of the year," and Andrew O'Hehir of Salon wrote that horror fans would celebrate it and that future horror directors "should go to school on it."[1](https://darkskyfilms.com/film/stake-land/) • [15](https://glasseyepix.com/project/stake-land/) The Chicago Reader's Ben Sachs found Mickle's observation of a devastated working-class America so sharp that the horror elements felt almost secondary, while Time Out gave a negative review, finding the film low on energy.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/stake-land/)
## Genre position and legacy
Critics and scholars have consistently read the film less as a vampire movie than as a post-apocalyptic road movie and Western. Reviews compare its tone to *The Road* and its creature design to *28 Days Later*, and one Glass Eye Pix programmer relayed the description of the film as what it would look like if [Terrence Malick](https://www.edgepedia.org/terrence-malick) had shot a vampire picture.[16](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/stake-land-film-review-by-david-graham) • [15](https://glasseyepix.com/project/stake-land/) [Academic writing](https://www.edgepedia.org/academic-writing) on apocalyptic fiction treats it as a case study of the vampire apocalypse as an antidote to the sympathetic vampire of the 2000s, restoring the vampire as a monstrous threat in a post-apocalyptic landscape.[17](https://academic.oup.com/edinburgh-scholarship-online/book/19174/chapter-abstract/177641618)
The film established Mickle, a festival catalog later noted, as one of the notable horror directors of his generation; he went on to direct *We Are What We Are* (2013) and *Cold in July* (2014).[3](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/32-torino-film-festival/film/stake-land/20830/) A sequel, *Stake Land II*, followed with Damici returning, and in interviews Damici discussed the first film's rule that backstory is never explained, saying he and Mickle had worked out full histories for the characters that the film deliberately leaves untold.[18](https://dailydead.com/interview-nick-damici-talks-stake-land-ii-and-his-plans-for-a-third-film-in-the-franchise/)
## References
1. [Stake Land, Dark Sky Films](https://darkskyfilms.com/film/stake-land/)
2. [Stake Land, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stake_land)
3. [Stake Land film card, 32° Torino Film Festival](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/32-torino-film-festival/film/stake-land/20830/)
4. [Stake Land Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/stake-land/)
5. [Stake Land review, Cath Clarke, The Guardian (16 June 2011)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/16/stake-land-review)
6. ['Stake Land' Is Your Land (If You're Feeling Bitey), Scott Tobias, KQED](https://www.kqed.org/arts/52391/stake_land_is_your_land_if_youre_feeling_bitey)
7. [Jim Mickle and Nick Damici Visit Stake Land, MovieMaker Magazine](https://www.moviemaker.com/stake-land-nick-damici-jim-mickle-vampire-kelly-mcgillis-20110419/)
8. [Stake Land review, Not Coming to a Theater Near You](https://www.notcoming.com/reviews/stakeland/)
9. [Movie reviews: 'Stake Land', Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times (April 29, 2011)](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-apr-29-la-et-capsules-20110429-story.html)
10. [Interview: 'Stake Land' Director Jim Mickle, Bloody Disgusting](https://bloody-disgusting.com/interviews/24253/interview-stake-land-director-jim-mickle/)
11. [Exclusive: Nick Damici Talks Stake Land, Dread Central](https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/23755/exclusive-nick-damici-talks-stake-land/)
12. [Exclusive: Director Jim Mickle Talks Stake Land, Dread Central](https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/23680/exclusive-director-jim-mickle-talks-stake-land/)
13. [STAKE LAND (2010): Interview With Jim Mickle, Screen Anarchy](https://screenanarchy.com/2011/04/stake-land-2010--interview-with-jim-mickle.html)
14. [Stake Land (2011) review, Deep Focus Review](https://www.deepfocusreview.com/reviews/stake-land/)
15. [Stake Land, Glass Eye Pix](https://glasseyepix.com/project/stake-land/)
16. [Stake Land (2010) review, Eye For Film](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/stake-land-film-review-by-david-graham)
17. [How to Survive a Vampire Apocalypse, Undead Apocalypse, Edinburgh Scholarship Online](https://academic.oup.com/edinburgh-scholarship-online/book/19174/chapter-abstract/177641618)
18. [Interview: Nick Damici Discusses Stake Land II, Daily Dead](https://dailydead.com/interview-nick-damici-talks-stake-land-ii-and-his-plans-for-a-third-film-in-the-franchise/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Vampire and werewolf films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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