Dann in reel life: 'Stake Land' chilling, thrilling and sad

Reel Life review: ‘Stake Land'

Jim Mickle's low-budget “Stake Land” supplies all the suspense, chills and gory violence we expect in a vampire Armageddon movie. But it's also the saddest, most melancholy, post-apocalyptic horror tale I've ever seen.

“Stake Land” more closely follows a classic zombie template. Law, order and governments have vanished in the wake of a global vampire infestation. A small band of humans struggles to survive against “vamps” whose bites can kill, or turn a person into one of them.

Worse, if the vamps don't get them, an un-Christian Christian militia group lead by a nut job fanatic (Michael Cerveris) will.

The story is told in flashbacks by a young man named Martin (“Gossip Girl” actor Connor Paolo) who hooks up with a loner mystery man simply called Mister (co-writer Nick Damici). He knows how to stay alive and destroy the vamps. He becomes Martin's mentor.

Like many characters in science-fiction films, Mister and Martin want to find sanctuary, a place called New Eden (comically, perhaps, set in Canada). Their quest attracts fellow survivors, including a nun (an unrecognizable Kelly McGillis), a Marine (Sean Wilson), a pregnant girl (Danielle Harris) and an able archer (Bonnie Dennison).

“Stake Land” is a big improvement over Mickle's 2006 “Mulberry Street,” a cheesy zombie-virus thriller set in a claustrophobic Manhattan. With Jeff Grace's evocative score underlining not the horror, but the characters' sense of loss in “Stake Land,” Mickle generates profound empathy for this band of travelers in a strange and hostile land that used to be their home.

It's not all gloom and doom. Mickle and Damici do possess a sense of morbid humor. Take the scene where a vampire shows up outside Peggy's gas station and diner.

“It's Walter again,” Peggy says. “We went to high school together. I haven't been able to get a clean shot at him.”

“Stake Land” opens at the Music Box Theatre, Chicago. Not rated, but contains extreme violence. 96 minutes. ★ ★ ★

Randhurst, the sequel

AMC officially opens its new theaters at the Randhurst Shopping Center in Mount Prospect today, and they're a vast improvement over the old Randhurst Cinemas just a parking lot away from Randhurst 2.

More spacious! Comfortable seats! Brightly decorated! Attractive lobby!

Randhurst the sequel has 12 auditoriums and seats 1,800 patrons. Plus, it's all digital (Sony 4-K digital projection), so film and film reels are a thing of the past.

Last week, I saw a preview of the comedy “Bridesmaids” at the new theaters, equipped with a full bar along with the customary concession stand items. But now, we don't have to wait in line for food or service. You just grab what you want (including drinks you serve yourself) and head directly to the cashier.

The new theater bears the mark of the AMC chain: famous movie quotes used in the architecture. AMC's River East 21 in Chicago has the quotes in the floor. Randhurst has them on the walls. (Note to AMC execs: Bogart never actually says “Play it again, Sam” in “Casablanca,” but close enough.)

At 12:30 p.m. today, Randhurst Cinemas will present a free rebroadcast of the royal wedding. Come early for some tea and crumpets at noon. Prizes, too.

The official ticket-tearing ceremony — a sacred rite for true film fans — will be at 1 p.m. today inside the theater's lobby. Radio Disney and WTMX-FM will broadcast live from the event.

For the record, Randhurst is the first AMC facility to be a LEED-certifiable building, which means it was constructed with some recycled materials and is about 20 percent more energy-efficient than regular theaters.

For details, go to amctheatres.com.

Chicago premiere

The Midwest Independent Film Festival presents the Chicago premiere of Michael Toth's “The Dream Play” at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Century Centre Cinema, Chicago. Toth will be available for a Q&A after the screening. Go to wifchicago.org.

Budget-busting films

Join me and film historian Raymond Benson as Dann & Raymond's Movie Club presents “Bloated Budgets! Intermissions! Casts of Thousands! Hollywood's Greatest and Grandest Epics.” Whew! Even the title is epic. Scenes will be shown from such monumental movies as “Intolerance,” “Gone With the Wind,” “The Ten Commandments,” “The Right Stuff” and “The Godfather” trilogy. Free admission, too! It starts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Schaumburg Township District Library, 130 S. Roselle Road, Schaumburg. (847) 985-4000 or go to schaumburglibrary.org.

It's coming!

You can read the Daily Herald's 31st annual summer movie preview in Time out! next Friday, May 6. Don't forget to also check for it (and like us!) at facebook.com/DH.TimeOut.

Reel Life review: ‘Queen of the Sun'

There comes a point in Taggart Siegel's documentary “Queen of the Sun” where its serious, ecological call-to-arms becomes merely repetitive and obvious.

How many times do experts have to tell us that humanity can't survive without bees before we understand that humanity can't survive without bees?

Siegel, who enjoyed a breakthrough with his quirky doc “The Real Dirt on Farmer John,” throws a lot of alarming statistics at us, such as 40 percent of the foods we eat depend upon bees for pollination.

Now, because of a phenomenon called “colony collapse disorder,” the world's beehives are disappearing, and ecologists are sending up the flares to warn us.

What causes CCD? Pesticides. Eradication of natural habitats. Plus, “monoculture,” a single-crop approach to growing foods that international corporations find most profitable.

Siegel avoids making “Queen of the Sun” a hard-hitting expose; he takes a softer, feature story approach, giving us a valuable history of bees and their importance. He also showcases people in the bee subculture, some of whom are so eccentric that they actually distract from the movie's ultimate message.

It doesn't help that Siegel, presumably to keep his footage engaging, resorts to animated segments and peripheral stories of pro-bee demonstrations, giving his film a jumpy structure that blunts its sting.

“Queen of the Sun” opens at the Music Box Theatre, Chicago. Not rated. 82 minutes. ★ ★ ½

Really tough bikers

“Ride the Divide,” a nonfiction film documenting a 2,700-mile bike ride (from Canada to Mexico) undertaken by a fearless band of athletes, premieres at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Ogden 6 Cinemas in Naperville. Directed by Hunter Weeks. Go to ridethedividemovie.com.

Ÿ Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire's column runs Fridays in Time out!