August 3, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I, II, III & IV • Page 17 ‘Stake Land’ vampire saga is tale of survival zombie/vampire flicks, specifically “28 Days Later,” “Zombieland,” and “I Am Legend,” and frequently overreaches into profundity. Sometimes the film looks and sounds like an existential companion piece to “Night of the Living Dead.” Extras on the Blu-ray release include two feature-length cast and crew commentaries, a making-of featurette, video diaries, pre-production storyboards, and a film festival Q&A session. “Damsel in Distress” (Warner Archive), new on DVD, stars Fred Astaire in a 1937 musical with a score by George and Ira Gershwin that features the classics “A Foggy Day” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” and the lesser-known but equally mesmerizing “Things Are Looking Up.” During the ‘30s Astaire was on a roll, turning out one terrific R-K-O musical after another with co-star Ginger Rogers. Having been teamed with sister Adele on Broadway and in London for years and having seen his career suffer when she quit the business to marry, Astaire was not thrilled that Connor Paolo stars as a teenager who must face an apocalyptic world of vampires in ‘Stake Land.’ by Dennis Seuling “Stake Land” (MPI Media Group) is a tale of survival in a dying world. America is in shambles. A vampiric scourge sweeps the nation, turning brother on brother and parent on child as the blood hungry beasts take deeper and deeper hold. Survivors don’t know whether to be more afraid of the creatures or the violent religious groups that have sprung up in response, but there is only a single choice: fight or die. Connor Paolo (“Gossip Girl”) stars as Martin, a teenager whose family has been slaughtered. His traveling companion is a silent, hardened vampire killer known simply as Mister (Nick Damici, “World Trade Center”), and together they trek across the land in search of the rumored safe haven of New Eden. As is common in vampire films, the mythos of vampirism is tweaked to both satisfy the script and keep a few steps ahead of the audience, which will undoubtedly be made up of people who can quote the assorted “rules and regulations” of the vampire world. In “Stake Land,” a bullet will temporarily slow down the vampire to accommodate split-second escapes, but a stake driven into the base of the skull is the surefire method of destruction. This allows for lots of bloody close-ups in this R-rated gore fest. Director John Mickle references other the public was demanding not Astaire, but Astaire-Rogers, so he asked for a different leading lady. The studio complied with Joan Fontaine, who turned out to be the most flatfooted of Astaire’s many movie dance partners. The film, however, has other delights, including a terrific extended fun house number in which Astaire, George Burns, and Gracie Allen dance and romp among slides, treadmills, distorting mirrors, and a gigantic spinning turntable. Allen’s illogical logic provides ample comic relief. “Exporting Raymond” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), available on Blu-ray and DVD, comically follows the attempt by Phil Rosenthal, creator of the sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond,” to turn this comedy into a successful Russian TV series. “Everybody Loves Raymond” won 11 Emmys over nine seasons and attracted more than 33 million viewers in its series finale. Rosenthal begins a lengthy and often surreal journey when he takes a call from a Russian team eager to adapt the show for (continued on Crossword page)