Red State directed by Kevin Smith

Red State is a complete 180 for Kevin Smith. Unlike anything he has done before, Red State is a hybrid thriller/action/horror flick with very little humour. It stars Michael Parks, John Goodman and Melissa Leo and (unlike Cop Out) is written by Smith. Low Budget, well acted and intense, Red State was exactly what I expected; A fairly decent thrill ride that, like most of Smith's body of work sits on the fence between being okay and being great.

After Smith worked as a director for hire on Cop Out, he returns to writing, producing, editing and directing with this film. And like much of his work, it is the dialogue that really stands out.  The story concerns 3 teenage boys who find a woman online who is prepared to sleep with them no questions asked. They show up, get drugged and wake up to find themselves captured by a devout religious cult hell bent on sending sinners to the grave.  The first five minutes are actually rather funny and could really fit into the rest of the Kevin Smith oeuvre but once the boys arrive at the woman's house the humour becomes minimal and the violence and terror begins.  The last third of the film shy's away from the terror and the humour and seems to become an action film.  And after all this, the very last scene and moment before the credits roll, makes the viewer laugh.

Like I said it is the dialogue that stands out, and this is very apparent every time Michael Parks appears on screen. His maniacal religious beliefs, his love for his family and his murderous rage all come out in a pitch perfect performance that not only holds the film together but is the main reason why the film and the emotions the viewer feels works so well. The other performances in the film come off pretty well too, but Parks outshines everybody including the very talented Melissa Leo.

There are times in Red State where the editing could of been a little tighter. Already a short film, clocking in at just shy of 90 minutes, it could of benefited from maybe being 5 minutes shorter.  A few too long speeches and a somewhat over long third act make the film less affecting than it otherwise could be. Smith`s direction is solid, not award worthy, but a hell of a lot better than his last film and considering he`s working out of his element here, in a genre he`s never touched before, he does a fairly good job. The film looks good, is sharply filmed and has some good production design but as a whole it feels slightly cheaper and more lacking than it should.

After some heavy deliberation I found that this is caused by the sound and music of the film.   The music tracks selected for the film work well, but the score is minimalist and leaves the viewer with nothing. Nothing while watching the film and an even bigger nothing when it ends. The sound design to is not anything to write home about. It works fine in the film but it just doesn`t have any `oomph`. Things just happen, sounds just happen and there is no flare to any of the sound design in regards to the special effects, dialogue and music. This kind of sound design is much better suited to the type of films Smith has made in the past.

With that said, there is still much to enjoy in Red State. If you like horror movies (although this film is not a flat out horror) then you`ll like this film. If you like Kevin Smith and know anything about him then you`ll like this film. It`s not fantastic, but it`s most definitely worth a viewing or two.

Film Rating: 69%

Breakdown (How Red State scored 69%):

Production Design: 7 out of 10
Cinematography: 6 out of 10
Re-playability: 7 out of 10
Originality: 7 out of 10
Costumes: 7 out of 10
Directing: 7 out of 10
Editing: 7 out of 10
Acting: 8 out of 10
Music: 6 out of 10
Script: 7 out of 10