Speaking of Cults...

Movie: Red State

My Rating: 4 stars

I’m surprised it took me so long to see this movie.  It’s a horror film about a crazy, apocalyptic, Christian cult, whose members enjoy kidnapping “sinful” teenagers and executing them at their demented church services.  These "sinners" fall into all kinds of categories--gays, fornicators, drinkers, you name it.  Oh, and these kooks also happen to be strong proponents of the Second Amendment.  Yee haw!  (You’ll have to imagine the sound of a shotgun loading).  This material is incredibly twisted and terrifying, yet also darkly funny.  John Goodman’s cynical ATF agent character provides most of the dark humor.  This material also happens to be very timely, what with Fred Phelps and his family spreading their crazy around these days.  This film has had a lot of critical buzz surrounding it after director Kevin Smith decided to distribute it himself after first showing it at Sundance.  I’m seeing a lot more filmmakers taking control of their own work this way.  It’s a pretty exciting topic.  So, I don’t really know why I let this movie linger so long in my Netflix queue.  It’s even available for streaming!  It couldn’t have been easier.  Oh well.

This movie is legitimately intense.  Michael Parks is really scary as the cult leader, Abin Cooper.  He’s so unpredictable—like Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight.  Those are always the most frightening characters.  It’s an incredible set up for a legitimately creepy story.  And, that’s why it’s such a shame that this movie’s script is so bad.  Characters imply things indirectly or with euphemisms, but then go ahead and fully explain the concepts anyway (just in case the audience didn’t understand).  They also narrate a lot of their actions as a way of driving the story forward.  It’s totally unnatural, and it comes off as lazy writing.  But, who knows?  Maybe this clunkiness was totally intentional.  Perhaps Kevin Smith wanted to give the film that B-horror-movie feel by dialing up the cheesiness.  Unfortunately, it isn’t very clear whether he meant to create this resemblance on purpose or not.  Thankfully, this element doesn’t ruin the movie.  The rest of the material is entertaining enough to hold up, even with this “flaw.”

The movie is unbelievably violent, as you would expect from one of these kidnap horror films.  But, all the religious rituals add a whole new layer of creepiness.  These nutty people are convinced that they are doing holy work, so they summarily execute their victims with the most sinister, dead-eyed glee you’ve ever witnessed.  Needless to say, this movie isn’t for the faint of heart.  Although, I think this is one time where my warning may actually be necessary.  The movie has received so much press that I think it may be attracting the attention of people who aren’t actually fans of horror films—especially since the story features interesting political and religious themes.  So, be careful.  The action is pretty brutal.