Sundance creation Kevin Smith totally reinvents himself with "Red State," an unnerving genre mash-up that marks a return to form for the much-maligned (of late) filmmaker.
Keeping the Smith circus out of this review is difficult, because the hype and my personal affection for most of Smith's films undoubtedly colors it, but the truth is that "Red State" straight up delivered the goods I was hoping for, plus much more. Namely, a deliciously magnetic performance from Hollywood veteran Michael Parks as a fundamentalist preacher who loves to hate.
Parks plays Pastor Abin Cooper as a kind of religious boogeyman who the local news and high school teachers talk about in mythic terms. He may be modeled after Rev. Fred Phelps, but as Smith's screenplay points out, Phelps is a suer, while Abin, well ... he's a doer.
The story begins with three horny teens (ringleader Kyle Gallner, sidekick Michael Angarano and intriguing newcomer Nicholas Braun as the requisite oaf) who take to the Internet to get laid.
Gallner finds an older woman online who is looking to have sex … not only with him, but with his two buddies, and at the same time no less. During their cross-town drive, the teenage trio sideswipe a squad car in which the town sheriff (Stephen Root) is secretly (to some) engaging in homosexual activity.
When the boys arrive in the backwards town of Coopers Dell, their future conquest (Melissa Leo) offers them a few beers which are conspicuously already open. Waking up from the drugged drinks, they find themselves captive in a church, at the mercy of a mad preacher who considers them sinners in the eyes of the Lord.
That's when things really take a turn for the worse, and we witness the lengths Abin's fervent followers will go to in the name of God.
Of the hundreds of "Red State" tweets I read tonight, one from Cameron Bailey, co-director of the Toronto International Film Festival, stood out. He said that "Red State" "mashes up torture porn and 'Saving Private Ryan' to bait both church & state," and I can get behind that description. The first half of "Red State" feels like Kevin Smith's take on "Hostel," while the second half plays like a Waco-under-siege movie that recalls the flashbacks in "Arlington Road."
The true surprise for this longtime Smith fan was how effective the first few death scenes were. The violence is so abrupt that each one is accutely felt, and Smith's impressive use of sound and editing makes them really hurt. The action was also aided by David Klein's cinematography, which gave "Red State" a compelling visual style that Smith's previous films have lacked, not that it was ever a serious detriment.
Speaking of the violence, the first murder is, pardon the pun, quite suffocating, and something I can't really remember seeing onscreen before, so bonus points for originality are in order.
