YMMV / Stake Land

• Ass Pull: How did Loven manage to escape his predicament and then track down the protagonists? He claims he gave his blood freely to the vampires and in becoming one of them somehow retained his mind. However the problem with this is he was tied to a tree with rope and barb wire, how exactly did he have any say in the matter and why would the vampires not have torn him to bits? And even if he survived being mauled and turned, his new strength getting him out, how did he even know where the group was going?
  • The Stakelander has quite a few more. How did the vampires get to New Eden? The whole reason Martin took refuge there was because they couldn't stand the cold. Either they've evolved past that weakness, or it's just lazy writing. And since when does destroying the brain work? Mister made it clear that the only way to kill them is to stake them through the heart, or through the neck, if they're Berserkers.
    • The Brotherhood transported them (given how the area doesn't seem particularly cold, its probable New Eden is in surrounded by a cold "belt" of sorts, composed of the colder regions of Canada and maybe Alaska.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: In the sequel, Martin is rescued from a vampire by an elderly couple, who take him in for the night. They drug him and try to kill him, but he kills them first. This is never mentioned again and provides nothing to the story.
• Dawson Casting: Done deliberately for a change! The part of Martin was originally written for a twelve-year-old boy but, due to the legal limitations of working with a underage actor, Connor Paolo was cast because, despite being nineteen at the time, he looked young enough to pass as being in his mid-teens.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Sister gets a lot of positive attention among the main group for her performance and development.
  • Officer Harley, the Reasonable Authority Figure, Hero of Another Story at the lock-down town of Strivington, especially for Managing to retain his sense of humanity after being bitten.
  • Chipper, crossbow wielding Peggy is well liked, although her being Martin's last minute love interest isn't completely approved of people don't seem to take it out on her character.
• First Installment Wins: The tone, acting and pacing of the first film are not recaptured with the second. While admittedly this was somewhat intentional, the sequel's rotten tomatoes score is less than half as positive as that of the first movie, and for some Fanon Discontinuity applies.
• Iron Woobie: Mister, who usually acts focused and unfettered but lost his parents, wife, and daughter in the initial outbreak and is unable to save many close friends over the two movies. His protégé Martin shows signs of becoming this in his own right, especially with the deaths of his family in the beginning.
• Moe:
  • Belle, the Imperiled in Pregnancy country singer has a lot of down-to-earth charm.
  • Peggy, due to her sunny, go-getter nature even after spending so long surviving alone.
• One-Scene Wonder: Most of the residents of the various survivor outposts the group stop at have strong Hero of Another Story airs to them, having held onto their humanity and fight back against Vampires and the Brotherhood while displaying some curiosity and insight with Mister and the Others.
• Special Effect Failure: It's pretty obviously a doll infant being dropped earlier on in the film.
• Tear Jerker: Sister sacrificing herself for her group, and Martin silently grieving for her, having formed a familial bond with her.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Willie who gets an interesting backstory and characterization but is the least fleshed out of the core characters and is Killed Offscreen without even the courtesy of a fight scene that it feels like he could have done well in.
• The Woobie: Martin, Sister and Belle.

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