Loading...
More.../rating_off.png "1 Star")
Loading ...Category: Horror
Year: 2011
Rating: 6.3/10 ()
Director: Kevin Smith
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 19 October 2011 (USA) See more »
Taglines: Fear God
Movie Storyline
Set in Middle America, a group of teens receive an online invitation for sex, though they soon encounter fundamentalists with a much more sinister agenda.
Cast:
Michael Angarano
-
Travis
Deborah Aquila
-
Mrs. Vasquez
Nicholas Braun
-
Billy-Ray
Ronnie Connell
-
Randy
Kaylee DeFer
-
Dana
Joey Figueroa
-
Route 9 Friend
Kyle Gallner
-
Jarod
Anna Gunn
-
Travis' Mother
Matt L. Jones
-
Deputy Pete
(as Matt Jones)
John Lacy
-
Travis' Father
Catherine McCord
-
News Reporter
Alexa Nikolas
-
Jesse
Stephen Root
-
Sherrif Wynan
Cooper Thornton
-
Plastic Wrap Man
Betty Aberlin
-
Abigail
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Filming Locations: Los Angeles, California, USA
Soundtracks:
"Old Rugged Cross"
Written by George Bennard
Official Site(s): Official site |
Trivia:
The Westborough Baptist Church planned to protest Red State at its premier at the Sundance Film Festival. Kevin Smith in turn planned a counter protest which he and his fans took part in. At the premier the counter-protesters heavily outweighed the handful of Westborough protesters who showed up. This occurred 12 years after Smith's first film to tackle religious controversy,
Dogma, drew protests from certain sects of the Catholic Church. One of which Smith jokingly took part in himself.
Quotes:
Pastor Abin Cooper:
[from trailer]
I fear God. You better believe I fear God.
User Review:
Conservative, White, Scary, and Red All Over
, rated: 8/10
Last week, Melissa Leo said "f---" on the Oscars and was bleeped out
for it. Wanna see her doing something worse, like being a bad-ass
conservative and shooting up feds? (What? You thought the phrases
"Melissa Leo" and "bad-ass conservative" didn't belong together?) Well,
luckily, you get to see it in Red State. Yeah, Red State is a crazy
movie and there's simply no other way to put it. Although I haven't
seen all of his films, Kevin Smith's newest movie must be his most
risky one to date. Sometimes, risks in movies aren't worth it; they're
usually just dismissed as being pretentious. Don't let this one fall to
the wayside. It's something well- worth seeing.
So, a summary. Well, that's not so easy when Red State is a
genre-bender. The film can be divided in to three parts: a teen sex
comedy, a psychological torture porn, and a bloody action-filled
shootout. Basically, three horny teenagers discover a website that they
call the "Craigslist of porn." The boys find a middle-aged woman
(Melissa Leo) who lives in a town close to theirs on the site, and, on
a fateful Friday night, arrange to have sex with her. When they get to
her beat-up trailer, she drugs them and brings them to the
ultra-conservative Five Points Church, where they are covered in saran
wrap and forced to endure a sermon the ends in someone's death. What
happens from there on is something you'd have to see to believe. All
I'll say that it's disturbing, darkly funny, and f--ked-up. And by the
end, you'll honestly say to yourself, "What the f--- is going on?"
When the news came out about Kevin Smith (the writer-director of Clerks
and Chasing Amy) doing a horror movie, people were surprised and scared
of what a mistake it could be. I'm pleased to say that they were wrong.
Red State carries on with Smith's great reputation as a writer. Not
only is the film incredibly witty in parts, but it also takes the
audience out of their own comfort zone by taking horror movie clichés
and turning them on their heads. I won't give specific examples, but
there are many characters who die without any warning, sometimes ones
that you think are going to turn out to be the heroes in the end. But
no, Kevin Smith loves f--king with us, so naturally, Red State is like
a roller-coaster ride that just never stops.
The best and certainly most risky part of the film is a 15-minute
sermon that lasts for most of the second act. Michael Parks plays the
leader of the church in this scene and he gives one hell of a
performance. As evidenced by Inglourious Basterds, it is possible to
pull off extremely long sequences of dialogue, but you have to get good
actors to back it up. And Smith couldn't have gotten someone better to
do it. Parks' performance is incredibly tense and creepy.
And Parks isn't the only great performance in Red State. Melissa Leo,
who is now riding on the success of winning an Oscar for The Fighter,
gives an insanely good performance as a conservative who's ready to
kill when her husband gets shot in an accident involving the hostages.
Leo plays her role with an emotional intensity rarely ever seen on
film. There are parts of the movie where her performance feels too
real, like her character could actually exist. But I haven't even
discussed John Goodman. Goodman, who is famous for saying "Shut the
f--- up, Donny!" in The Big Lebowski, surprises with his acerbically
witty performance. At one moment, he pulls of seriousness and in the
next, he pulls of Smith's dry sense of humor. The younger actors of the
film, whose names I wish I knew, are also worth noting, for they have a
future in film.
Smith's direction is never nearly as risky as his script, and that is
the one area where Red State falls slightly short. With such strong
writing, one might expect a more memorable directing job. Shot with RED
(fitting, huh?) digital cameras, the film feels a little too jumpy at
times. Sometimes, this works very well for the film, but at others, it
just makes it feel unnecessarily frantic. Nevertheless, it's an
interesting cinematic exercise.
As you may have imagined, the film also has its political implications.
I don't necessarily agree with them , but they also took away from the
experience. Smith is known for his brazen and fearless fits of
political rage, but there is no reason why they should end up in his
movies.
Did you read that far? Wow, you must really respect my opinion! In
short, Red State is the kind of film that could have only succeeded
when it was directed by a certain person, and that person was Kevin
Smith. His violent and often brutal story is unlike I've ever seen
before. The acting is just great; it's unlikely that you'll ever see
acting this good in a horror movie again. Red State is that rare kind
of movie that breaks the mold by changing its genre three times, which
is just one of its spectacular oddities. It's unlikely that something
like Red State will ever happen again. B+
/rating_on.png "1 Star")
/rating_half.png "4 Stars")
RSS feed for comments on this post. • TrackBack URL
Leave a Reply