:quality(85):upscale()/2024/11/01/835/n/1922564/bfa93947672525e50f3021.35859863_.jpg "Good American Soft-Tech Denim Review")
Yet another trio of Dark Sky Films titles have made their way onto SCREAMBOX, joining previously dropped classics Willow Creek, Minor Premise, and The Deeper You Dig (details), as well as Ghost Killers vs. Bloody Mary, Landlocked, and Possum (details), and even Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 1 & 2 and Emelie (details).
All of them have a taste for blood…
First, Stake Land, the Jim Mickle-directed vampire classic that set the stage for his cannibal horror We Are What We Are and the Netflix series “Sweet Tooth”.
In the film, “America has fallen. A vampiric scourge sweeps the nation, turning brother on brother and parent on child as the blood-hungry beasts take deeper and deeper hold upon the land. It’s hard for the survivors to know whether to be more afraid of the creatures themselves or the violent religious groups that have sprung up in response, but there is clearly only one choice: fight or die.
“Connor Paolo (Alexander, Mystic River) stars as Martin, a teenager whose family has been slaughtered. His traveling companion is a taciturn, hardened vampire killer known simply as Mister (Nick Damici), and together they trudge across the land in search of the rumored safe haven of New Eden.“
Drawing on the post-apocalyptic frenzy described by Richard Matheson (author of the novel I Am Legend) and George A. Romero, Stake Land is a road movie with fangs. It co-stars new horror movie icon Danielle Harris (Halloween, Hatchet II) as a pregnant young woman and Kelly McGillis (Witness, Top Gun) as a traumatized nun who are picked up by Martin and Mister along their journey. The movie was produced by indie horror director Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter, Wendigo)!
In Summer of Blood, a vampire horror-comedy classic, indie maven “Onur Tukel turns in a hilarious performance as the monumentally lazy, socially oblivious and commitment-shy Erik Sparrow, who is dumped by his career-woman girlfriend (Anna Margaret Hollyman) when he rejects her rather charitable marriage proposal.
“Feeling lost, he turns to a disastrous string of online dates that successively eat away at his already-deteriorating confidence until a lanky vampire turns him into an undead ladykiller.
“Soon, Eric is prowling the streets of Brooklyn in search of anything to satisfy both his maniacal sex drive and his hunger for blood.
“A collision of absurd, self-deprecating wit and existential curiosity, Summer of Blood is a hilarious horror-comedy with a clever bite all its own.”
Lastly is Bitter Feast, a culinary classic produced by indie horror director Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter, Wendigo)!
In Joe Maggio’s film a food critic can dish it out, but can he take it? Revenge is on the menu for notorious blogger J.T. Franks (The Blair Witch Project‘s Joshua Leonard) when he publishes a rumor that leads to the demise of TV chef Peter Grey’s culinary empire.
“Grey (James Le Gros) kidnaps the writer, confines him in a remote cabin and presents him with a series of deceptively simple food challenges – from preparing a perfect egg over-easy to grilling a steak precisely medium rare – punishing him for anything less than total perfection.”
“Bitter Feast is an exploration of the creative impulse gone tragically and ferociously awry.”
Revenge is a dish best served to order – raw and bloody on SCREAMBOX!
