Released: September 29, 2011. Directed by: Kevin Smith. Starring: Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, John Goodman. Runtime: 88 min.
I must give respect writer/director Kevin Smith for giving us something we haven’t seen from him before. There’s only one laugh in the entire movie. It’s a nice change of pace for him, but not a great film.
Set in Middle America, Jarod (Kyle Gallner) invites two of his best friends, Randy (Ronnie Connell) and Billy-Ray (Nicholas Braun) to have a foursome with an older woman he met through a dating site. Instead of having a good time, they fall onto the family church of Abin Cooper (Michael Parks), a religious zealot who has a much more sinister agenda.
I also respect that this is a movie I wasn’t really expecting – because it’s certainly not one’s run-of-the-mill action-horror flick. It also realistically portrays religious fantacism, in a particularly shocking way in one scene – but when Cooper simply preaches his beliefs down his family’s throats (and our throats, too, in turn) it’s the same familiar Bible quoting. I have my own religious beliefs – but I’m not one to stand on the lawn of a church during a funeral to protest homosexuality.
Things take a turn halfway through when intelligent cops actually show up (a rarity for horror flicks, no less) on a lead of the compound holding weapons that violate the National Firearms Act. These occurrences change the film’s tone from subtle horror to a bit of full-out action, and that isn’t the worst thing in the world because with that we get another intense performance from John Goodman. Viewers also get to see Michael Parks act nucking futs, and Nicholas Braun’s fear of the situation in one scene is particularly impressive.
There’s some analysis of repercussions of taking orders and not taking orders from higher powers (I’m talking about one’s boss in this case!), as well as some thoughts on terrorism. The religious fanatics are a little cuckoo and some of the occurrences are disappointing; leading me to not really care about the characters any more, but at least there’s some humanity within the religious family. It’s cool that some of the focus is taken away from the young teens who were the stars at the beginning, but surprising. But that’s what we look for in films – surprises. That’s what makes “Red State” only a decent watch. An unpleasant surprise is that this feels much more like an action film than a horror film, but it’s still not a waste of time; and one thing is certain: It makes me a bit more cautious of Craigslist, at least if there are any religious fanatics in my area.
Score: 63/100
Filmcraziest 
I could see what Smith was trying to get with this but the tone was all over the shop. I found it a bit disappointing.
Exactly 😦 The premise was much better than it actually was
Great review. And I agree.
Actually, I forgot this was Kevin Smith. Certainly different for him; too bad it wasn’t a better movie.
Thanks! I wasn’t disappointed because I might have expected more from the guy, but because it didn’t do too much with its premise – and for a movie that tried to be different altogether, it really wasn’t that special
I remember thinking it was OK, nothing amazing though. Hard to believe it’s a Kevin Smith film isn’t it.
Haha it really is, that must be why the tagline is something like “A different kind-of horror movie from THAT Kevin Smith”.
Good review Dan. While I’m glad Smith really jumped out of his comfort-zone for this, I still don’t feel like he went far enough with the material. Granted, I know he was working on a tight budget and schedule, but he could have at least done just a bit more with the stand-off than just a few kills here and there.
That’s true about the stand-off! More blood please lol.