Kevin Smith’s “Red State” is like no other movie he has ever written/directed; he has repeatedly called it a horror movie, but it is much more than that. The movie does briefly take the appearance of a horror movie in the beginning when 3 high school boys take a trip to a small southern town to have “group sex” with a girl one of them met online. When they arrive at the woman’s (well-played by Melissa Leo) trailer, they are drugged and held captive by Leo’s family of crazed religious fanatics who are so extreme (at one point they protest the funeral of a gay teenager) that they are even shunned by other “right wing religious extremists.”
This is only the setup of a movie with a lot of twists, none of which I will reveal here because part of my enjoyment of the film was feeling my jaw hit the theater floor repeatedly. I was absolutely blown away how well written and directed this movie is. Not because I am not a fan of Smith’s, which I am, but because he so completely leaves his comfort zone and brings to life an unsettling vision that leaves the personification of religious extremism, particularly in the name of bigotry, ultimately riddled with a lot of bullet holes. This film is not an assault on the idea of religion (Smith is identified Christian) but an assault on the truly sick horrors man is capable of when they justify their crimes of hate through gross misinterpretations of passages in the bible.
That’s not to say that this film is just an allegory against religious extremism; it is also an entertaining, yet extremely unsettling, and unconventional genre mashup of horror, action, and very dark humor. The sudden changes in tone are expertly handled, as are the action beats, which Smith and his excellent cinematographer Dave Klein direct with all the energy and flare of the best of the modern action directors. The film was also gloriously photographed with the Red One camera, which gives the movie a visceral gritty 70’s look and feel. Also, the sound design is incredible in this movie; bullets bounce and ricochet around the theater creating the feeling that your head might get split open by a bullet at any second.
The movie is well acted all around with a cast that includes Leo, Michael Parks, John Goodman, & Stephen Root. Parks & Goodman especially shine as two very different men, but both governed by fear. Parks is the soft-spoken yet truly evil preacher whose fear of God drives his thirst for extreme punishment on any sinners, while Goodman fears, as an ATF agent tracking Parks’ family, of ultimately losing his own sense of moral judgment in an effort to stop this completely amoral family.
I really liked “Red State.” However, please be forewarned: this is not a movie for everyone. It is extremely violent and truly unsettling, particularly in the scenes involving the young children in the family who are, at one point, allowed to partially witness just what old Grandpa (Parks) really thinks of homosexuals and other “sinners.” Also, the “punishment” for one such victim is pretty harrowing (in addition to the massive body count that stacks up as the film progresses.) But it’s all a testament to Smith’s incredible no-holds-barred filmmaking that subverts everything from genre expectations, religious extremism, family dynamics, terrorism, justice, and ultimately the idea of salvation. And by the end of it, the movie, brilliantly edited by Smith who brings it all in at a tight 84 minute running time, left me absolutely exhilarated.
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