Red State [DVD]

Red State is the story of 3 high-school lads who are desperate to get laid. Responding to an online advert, the guys show up at a remote trailer and at the insistence of the lady of the house, down their beers. Waking up confused and disorientated, it's clear the trio have been waylaid by the militant and bigoted 5-Points church (a thinly-veiled swipe at the Westborough Baptist Church), led by Pastor Abin Cooper (The brilliant Michael Parks - Kill Bill, Volume 2) who are renowned for picketing anything to do with homosexuality and amorality in society.

With the guys held hostage and about to "meet Jesus" at the hands of the church, the ATF coincidentally show up at the church compound to serve a warrant concerning the purchase of fully-automatic weapons, mere weeks before a change in the law prohibited ownership of them. It turns out the ATF are correct and a massive stand-off & resultant shoot-out ensues when said fully-automatic weapons are let loose. With the government's orders to 'clean-up' this domestic terrorist cell and the religious fanatics zeal, neither side is willing to back down, will anyone survive this complete political mess of church vs. state?

Well, where to begin? Red State is a political hand grenade quite simply, it's sure to inflame tensions both side of the fence as blame is equally apportioned. It's also immensely violent and in these respects really hasn't had to bite it's tongue to fit in with any studio's idea of acceptability (Director Kevin Smith is self-distributing the film).

The acting is fantastic, most notably John Goodman (The Big Lebowski) and especially Michael Parks whos softly-spoken old-testament religious fervour actually begins to make sense until you shake off his irrational arguments. Where RS falls down however is that it is a bit preachy (appreciated it's about a firebrand preacher) but it makes all of the law-enforcement officials and church members equally despicable leaving you no-one to root for. Whilst Goodman provides the only champion, even he doesn't come off well. As a result, I really felt Red State was missing a message apart from the obvious "religious extremism is bad" and "the government are a bit shoot-first, ask-questions-later".

Completely different from anything out there at the moment, well filmed and well directed by Kevin Smith, this has attracted all sorts of negative press, but it's unique and unabashed, for that reason alone it will make you think and consequently it's well worth a watch!

Not too shabby a film this at all. I can't say i'm a massive fan of Kevin Smith's earlier films but the synopsis for Red State sounded so far against the run of the grain I felt compelled to check it out.

The first half of the film is a reasonably predictable turn-of-events to get the ball rolling which in some ways made me think of Hostel (strangely enough there was a single scene which also called to mind Cabin Fever; maybe Smith is a fan of Eli Roth; who knows?). There's plenty of blood and violence to please the gore-hounds and the death-count is pleasingly high. Oh yes, I would also echo others' sentiments that Michael Park's preacher is dynamite offering a deadpan and seemingly logical issuance of fire and brimstone. John Goodman is a close second; is it just me or is he a lot more slimline these days?

Overall the film was largely straightforward however, and I did like this, there were plenty of 'well, I wasn't expecting that!' moments. A bit like seeing Drew Barrymore getting offed in the first five minutes of Scream. The ending was also suitably ambiguous in terms of morality and following orders. I guess the conclusion was is either side more 'right' than the other? Two sides go to war, a point is all that you can score...not to mention those that get caught-up somewhere in between.

Three school friends use a website to meet up with a woman who promises them shenanigans, it's certainly a night they will never forget...

While some have criticised writer/director Kevin Smith over some of his more recent films, he is still firmly regarded by many as the man behind cult classics such as Clerks and Mallrats - the sort of film which initially seem a bit puerile but reveal themselves to be full of warmth, clever observations and gloriously sweary narrative. In the initial scenes of Red State, banter between the three friends is sharp, sexually obsessed and very Smith-esque but Red State doesn't follow any formula and quickly becomes shocking. They are the victims of entrapment, a fundamental (with emphasis on the 'mental') Christian group has used an adult website in order to "harness the Devil's technique" and lure Godless perverts to cleanse America of its sin.

Those who felt that Smith had gone a bit 'Hollywood' have been silenced with Red State, this feels like a polished independent film which makes every effort to challenge the obvious. You never know what to expect from the film because the twists you see coming never happen, instead it heads off on a tangent and that constant sense of the unexpected gives it an added menace - anything could happen to anyone, no character is safe. Instead of a simple attack on religious zeal we get cynicism aimed at the police and the state itself. I've read comments by some who consider the film to lose cohesion because everything has been thrown at it, I disagree, just because it changes direction every few minutes doesn't mean it has no direction and certain elements have been crafted so perfectly. There's a reason why when surveys are carried out to see who the scariest film villains are, that Hannibal Lector often tops the list over the likes of Freddie Krueger. Cold logic and intelligence are always creepier than a psycho in a mask and Michael Parks is brilliantly intense as Pastor Abin Cooper, he is genuinely disconcerting to watch as he dehumanises homosexuals to justify his motives by separating gays from the rest of the human species. For him, it isn't murder, it's pest control backed up by scripture. He isn't just a bad guy, you understand his motives and see how he has achieved such a passionate following, clearly inspired by the infamous Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church - he takes "God Hates..." beyond banners and pickets.

There's not a poor performance in the entire film and the intrusive way the camera captures a lot of the action enables the atmosphere to really develop. The Blu-Ray looks great, surprisingly so because I expected it to look a little 'low budget', but the picture holds up well especially when you consider that a lot of the film takes place in near darkness. It's not as technically fantastic as most modern big-studio releases, but it doesn't suffer from any notable issues. There are some good extras on here which are worthy of a watch/listen - but the best companion for this film happens to be Kevin Smith's seperate Burn in Hell DVD in which he discusses the movie industry in general as well as specifics around Red State.

In a nutshell: This is the ultimate battle of church versus state. More a social satire than a horror - but with such a genuinely terrifying villain, this can proudly call itself a horror. I hope that Kevin Smith will continue to 'do his own thing' if the results are like this. I was going to give this 4 stars but it has stuck with me long after watching it and I feel quite defensive of it after reading a lot of negative stuff about it, usually from folk half expecting to see Jay appear and say how f*****d up it all is!