Stake Land II Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Stake Land II Blu-ray Movie Review

Lesser Stakes

Reviewed by Michael Reuben February 16, 2017

The sequel to 2011's Stake Land premiered in October 2016 on the SyFy channel and is now being released to Blu-ray. The opening titles read "Stake Land II", but the closing credits list the film's name as "The Stakelander". Whatever it's called, the sequel is a lesser effort in every respect. The atmospheric direction of original helmer Jim Mickle (Cold in July) is sorely missed.

Some years after the first film, Martin (Connor Paolo) loses his new family to an attack on New Eden led by a one-eyed female vampire called "The Mother" (Kristina Hughes), who has managed to unite both the vampire hordes and the religious fanatics known as The Brotherhood. A grieving Martin heads south, retracing his steps to the former U.S. in the hope of finding legendary vampire hunter "Mister" (Nick Damici) to help him track and kill The Mother. When Martin and Mister eventually reconnect, they resume their wanderings through what remains of civilization. Mister is now a figure of legend, renowned and feared by both humans and vamps.

Stake Land II repeats the episodic structure of the first film, as Martin and Mister encounter pockets of surviving humans—who may be either friend or foe—and repel attacks by the ceaseless parade of zombie-like bloodsuckers, who are growing ever bolder in the face of a dwindling food supply. Eventually the vampire hunters find one of the last remaining human enclaves, where a showdown with Mother and her minions quickly follows.

Stake Land II is a competently executed project, but there's also nothing memorable about it. Directors Dan Berk (usually a producer) and Robert Olsen (usually an editor) dutifully recapitulate the first film's story beats, but they don't have Mickle's gift for creating eerie tableaus of an abandoned civilization, and the script (written by Damici) doesn't offer them a memorable villain like the cult leader played by Michael Cerveris in Stake Land. The Mother has no dialogue, and her villainy is limited to making scary faces through heavy makeup. In the first film, the melding of vampire and zombie tropes felt interesting and original, but here it's just more of the same.

Stake Land II Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Stake Land II was shot digitally, and MPI Media Group's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray reflects the usual virtues of digital capture, with a sharp and detailed image that is free of noise or interference. Replacing the talented Ryan Samul, whose stylish photography greatly contributed to the unsettling atmosphere of the original Stake Land , cinematographer Matt Mitchell achieves an efficient but generic look that is well suited to TV viewing.

Stake Land II Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's 5.1 soundtrack has been encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, and it's a capable but unremarkable mix with the broad dynamic range for weapons fire and explosions and (for the mot part) clearly articulated dialogue. Surround activity is limited to ambiance and the standard-issue horror score by Redding Hunter.

An alternate PCM 2.0 track is included.

Stake Land II Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Of (1080p; 1.78:1; 23:37).



• Trailers: In addition to the film's trailer (1080p; 2.39:1; 2:13), at startup the disc plays trailers for Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (30th Anniversary Edition), If There's a Hell Below, the original Stake Land and Deathgasm.

Stake Land II Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Stake Land II has potentially interesting notions, particularly with the alliance between vampires and their former Brotherhood enemies, but it fails to do anything with them. It's a lazy sequel. Skip it and watch the original Stake Land.