Stake Land II (2016)

aka: The Stakelander
Dir: Dan Berk, Robert Olsen

I would not have guessed that the vampire apocalypse film STAKE LAND would get a sequel. The film does offer a different take on end times, and does a wonderful job of world creation, but its deliberate pace and inward reflection (think Terrence Malick directing a vampire flick) did not lend itself to becoming a franchise. I found the film to be above average, a tad too slowly paced for the material, but recommend it to viewers looking for a fresh take on bloodsuckers rampaging across a broken country. Here we are six years later with a follow-up.

Martin (Connor Paolo CAMP HELL), his family destroyed by The Mother (Kristina Hughes FEROCIOUS), the leader of a vampire pack, searches for his former mentor Mister (Nick Damici who also wrote the script). His plan is to find the vampire slayer extraordinaire and team up to crush The Mother and her minions. His journey takes him across North America pitting him against vampires, the malignant cult The Brotherhood and other humans who seemingly have given up hope for a better world and have turned to cannibalism for sustenance and redneck gladiatorial combat for entertainment. The world is shit, humans are no longer working together.

Finding Mister the two do team up and find a community that does work together. They also learn that they have fallen into a trap laid by The Mother who's forces are gathered to destroy the community and Mister.

Most of the navel-gazing of the first film is gone leaving the basic framework of the post-apocalyptic road film (MAD MAX II, THE ROAD, PHANTASM series). The pace is picked up, this film runs a scant 81 minutes, with an emphasis on action rather than characters. Unfortunately the low budget, it is a Syfy Channel feature, hampers the action. A few of the action set pieces left me scratching my head as to why they were shot that way but in the context of not having the funds I can understand. Fortunately the world building carried over from the original film goes a long way to elevating this film. I found the world to be that rich in ideas. It would make for an interesting role playing game where there is no limit to the imagination's budget.

Steve Williams plays a veterinarian turned doctor in the community under siege by the vampires. Look for producer Larry Fessenden in a small role as a guard who isn't as perceptive as he needs to be.

For those who enjoyed the first film, keep in mind the tonal shift of the sequel. I found this film to be just as entertaining as the first but in a different way.

** 1/2 out of ****

[REC] 4: Apocalypse (2014)

Dir: Jaume Balaguero

I enjoyed the first two [REC] films immensely, they also demonstrated that there was some life left in the so called found footage genre (going on six years after the sequel was released there doesn't seem to be much creative spark left to that life). Even the third film, which switches from POV to a traditional narrative early in the film and from straight horror to more comedy horror, is entertaining in its own way and I will not fault the film makers from wanting to break, slightly, new ground. When I heard there was going to be a fourth film in the series I was excited to see where the franchise was headed, especially with 'apocalypse' in the title.

The fourth entry in this Spanish zombie franchise opens moments after the events of the previous films, the third film's timeline running parallel to the first two. A squad of soldiers are sent into the quarantined apartment building. The mission is to plant explosives with the goal being to not only demolish the building but destroy all the infected within. Their numbers diminished from attacks by the infected but the explosives in place, the remaining two soldiers Guzman (Paco Manaznedo) and Lucas (Crispulo Cabetas), turn to exit as the timer counts down. They hear a woman screaming for help from a floor above them. Rushing to her aid, Guzman finds Angela (Manuela Velasco), the television reporter who entered the apartment with a firefighter crew (the first film).

Why yes, that is an outboard motor in his hands

Guzman awakens in a room he does not know and goes out into the steel hallway in search of an answer as to where he is. He's on board a ship. A ship at sea with a company of soldiers, a Dr. Ricarte (Hector THE HAUNTING Colome) in charge of the soldiers and crew, life boats disabled and the radio locked down so that no messages get out without approval of the authorities. Angela is there, along with Lucas and a disoriented woman who was attending a wedding (a reference to the third film). Dr Ricarte and his fellow scientists have been working on a cure in hope that it will help combat any further outbreaks. Locked in the makeshift laboratory in the hold of the ship is a host from which blood is drawn to create the antidote. Only some one has let the host loose and now no one is safe.

Monkeys!

This certainly isn't the first time we've seen a group of survivors trapped on a ship with minimal amount of options for survival while being menaced by an malevolent force, but it is a nice change up from the apartment building of the first two films. My disappointment aside that there is no apocalypse as promised by the film's title, director and co-writer Jaume Balaguero helms a tension filled, gory, thrilling entry of a series that I thought dead after the third one. It doesn't reach the delirious scary heights of the first, but stays true to form with its science versus religion plot thread and its good to see Angela back. Angela stays in the background for much of the running time with Guzman as the hero in forefront but there are unexpected twists that blindsided me that explain the decisions of the writing and directing team.

*** out of ****

See No Evil 2 (2014)

Dir: Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska

As I liked the darkly quirky AMERICAN MARY, directed by the Soska sisters and starring Katherine Isabelle (GINGER SNAPS), I was intrigued upon learning that the Soskas' would be directing the sequel to WWE's 2006 slasher SEE NO EVIL. Having not seen the original I had to watch that first in case any important plot points carried over to the sequel (flashbacks to the original provide all the narrative carry over required from the original). The viewing left me wondering why anyone was creating a follow-up to a mediocre film from eight years ago.

The sequel picks up right where the first left off. The police are on the scene at the Blackwell hotel investigating the carnage and uncovering body after body stashed away by serial killer / hand of God Jacob Goodnight (WWE wrestler / fuckin' tall drink of water Glenn 'Kane' Jacobs returning to the role). A number of the dead, including no doubt about it he's dead, Jacob are taken to the city morgue.

Working at the morgue are med school drop out Amy (Daniel 'Is she officially a Scream Queen?' Harris), the secretly pining for Amy Seth (Kaj-Erik Eriksen) and the wheel chair bound Holden (Michael Eklund). Amy's shift is over and she's about to leave to meet up with friends to celebrate her birthday when the call comes in about the in bound bodies. Dedicated employee that she is, she cancels her party and stays to help out. As she's a good bud and state and federal laws be damned, Holden gets in touch with her friends and organizes a spur of the moment surprise party to be held in the morgue.

Meanwhile the definitely dead and won't be coming back any time soon Jacob is dropped off via ambulance and Amy and Seth wheel the corpse downstairs.

Once finished helping Seth knock out the bulk of the work, Amy heads upstairs to 'punch out' and is surprised by her over protective brother and her friends. 'Happy Birthday!', now let's get drunk. One of her friends, Tamara (Isabelle), turns out to be not only a serial killer devotee but freaky. Learning that the body of the killer Jacob is downstairs, Tamara and her boyfriend sneak off to pay the corpse a visit. Once in the presence of the corpse, Tamara's freak is all on leading to her and her boyfriend banging away mere feet away from of course he's dead Jacob.

Jacob doesn't take kindly to fornicators and shamblingly precedes to stalk everyone through the seemingly endless corridors and rooms of the morgue.

How's this for faint praise? It's a bit better than the original. Both films boil down to a group of youngsters being chased through one darkened corridor after another, not being able to exit the building while a seemingly unstoppable maniac snuffs them one by one. The Soska sisters do bring their own vision and touch to the slasher film genre. Amy is a spunky fighter unlike her hunky brother and at one point grabs a fire axe to aid in his rescue. Tamara is wonderfully played by an over the top Isabelle and her morgue scene would have raised me from the dead. There's a shocking twist on the final girl theme that caught me off guard and had me cursing the film makers for doing that to the character.

While I like what the Soska sisters brought to the film the frame is still a bog standard slasher.

**1/2 out of ****