Red State

Writer/director Kevin Smith takes a decidedly different and much darker turn with his latest film. Turning on fundamentalist evangelicals.

I am a big fan of Kevin Smith. I admit that not all his films are great but they are still really cleverly written. I seem to gravitate towards writers who can write great dialogue, which is Kevin's greatest strength. So I had high expectations for this film.

The film has not been very well received. Kevin has decided to make a film which is radically different to what he has previously done. He has not always been a hugely successful film maker financially or critically but he has a big cult following. The tone of this film is really different to what we've come to expect from Kevin, which is why I think it has not done that well.

The story is a fairly conventional horror plot with a group of teens being captured and tortured by a nasty family. What makes this film different is that this family is religious fundamentalists. There are many groups like this around but generally they don't kidnap and kill people. That we know of. These people are very radical in their approach to God, so you can see how it is not that far for them to go in making sure people believe like they do. They make the perfect villains.

Kevin has certainly grown up as far as his film making techniques are concerned too. He freely admits that he is not a very visual film maker but he has done an excellent job here. He uses the camera better and moves it around a lot more creating frenetic visuals which add to the thrills of the story.

I attended one of Kevin Smith famous Q & A talks last year and he spoke of his casting for this film he told a story of how he wanted Michael Parks and it is perfect casting. Michael gives a brilliant performance. He is suitably creepy and despite playing someone who is supposed to be promoting love he come across as pure evil. The centre piece of the film is a speech he gives explaining how his branch of fundamentalism works. It is frightening stuff. His assistant in this evil crusade is played by the brilliant Melissa Leo. She plays the wackiness of her character so well. John Goodman rounds out the trio of excellence with his put-upon agent who must stop this religious group from expanding. He is good as showing the exasperation his character feels at not being able to run the operation in the way he'd like to.

You know Kevin Smith for his crazy comedies so don't be put off by the fact that this is a hardcore horror film. Americans are worried about extreme branches of Muslims overseas, but they should be just as scared of those right in their own backyard.