10 Best Indie Vampire Movies You've Probably Never Seen

8. Stake Land (2010)

Subspecies movie
IFC Films

Stake Land follows a young man who is left an orphan after his family is slaughtered amidst a vampire pandemic. He finds support in the form of an enigmatic vampire hunter known only as 'Mister,' and together the pair attempt a dangerous journey across America in search of a better life in a place known only as New Eden.

In 2011, Jim Mickle's film won the Midnight Madness Cadillac People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival, and for good reason. This is an eerie, character-driven apocalypse flick which gets everything it can out of its very modest budget.

Mickle crafts an atmospheric horror story that speaks volumes about the devastation of the American working class, and manages to turn apparently tried and tested tropes into something fresh.

The film inspired a sequel in 2016, Stake Land II, which premiered on Syfy in October of that year. Harris also directed a short tie-in film for Stake Land which was featured on the film's website. It's meager box office return doesn't do Stake Land justice - it is more original and chilling than a lot of other run-of-the-mill bloodsucker romps.

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I write regularly about all things pop culture, and am an individually approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes. I am the Film News Editor for FILMHOUNDS Magazine and a Senior Writer for Starburst Magazine UK. My other credits include bylines in The Guardian, The Quietus and The Indiependent.