Nitro Video Rating:
PURCHASE THE DVD: Vampire Stakes (Stakes) (2002)

Vampire Stakes, also known as just plain Stakes, is a no-budget shot-on-video flick from Baltimore’s Time Warp Films, a small company headed by veteran schlock producer Don Dohler and ex-cop-turned-director Joe Ripple. Dohler and Ripple are pretty good at what they do: their production values are at least passable, they have just enough decent actors to get by and their stories are often fresh takes on old ideas. Though Stakes isn’t a great movie by any means, you could find worse ways to waste and hour-and-a-half.

In the movie, it’s suggested that there is a parallel version of Earth inhabited by vampires who are now starving after killing most of the humans. In an effort to preserve humanity, three survivors enter our world through a dimensional portal, but they are followed by a vampire queen (super-sexy Leanna Chamish) and her two thrall. Like kids in a candy store, the vamps are understandably content to stay in this world, but the intrepid survivors aren’t going to let them do so without a fight.

While acting is always a pitfall for the no-budget sect, this flick does okay in that area with nice performances from Time Warp vets Leanna Chamish, George Stover and newcomer Ashira Zimra. They manage to anchor a flick that might have otherwise been betrayed by some subpar special effects and stilted direction. Providing the requisite skin moment in the flick is grade-z scream queen Syn DeVil who clearly is hired more for her allergy to clothing than her love for dramatics.

• Format: Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
• Studio: Key East Ent
• DVD Release Date: October 22, 2002
• Run Time: 83 minutes