A bit of a special YNTE Horror Night tonight, last night I had the priviledge of seeing Kevin Smith’s new movie, Red State. He’s currently finishing up a limited run tour of one night only screenings of the film across America in advance of the movie opening wide on August 19th.
Normally my movie reviews are pretty spoiler heavy; however, since this is a film that’s not even out yet, I’m going to try and rein it in and keep this pretty spoiler free. However, if you want to watch the movie with an absolutely clean slate when it comes out in August, you should probably stop reading now. You’ve been warned!
Here’s what you need to know about Red State: You should see it.
Maybe you’re already a Kevin Smith fan. Great – this movie will impress the pants off you. There’s some moments that are total Kevin Smith moments that will make you laugh. This is far and away the best movie he’s made.
Maybe you’re not a Kevin Smith fan. Maybe his puerile sense of humor is not for you. That’s fine. You should still see this film. It’s not a comedy. It looks amazing, and the plot is as compelling as any I’ve seen in recent history. If you hate Kevin Smith films, this is NOT a Kevin Smith film.
Seriously, this film has something for everybody: horror, action, brief moments of comedy, and a healthy dose of suspense.
One of my favorite movies from recent history is The Dark Knight. In The Dark Knight, every 10 minutes or so, there’s an action piece or reveal or something happening that in any other film would be the climax. Every part of that movie is the exciting part, because exciting stuff is always happening, always keeping you on your toes.
Red State, in that regard, is similar. From about the 10-15 minute mark, crazy shit starts going down. And from that point on, the movie is pretty unrelenting in its pace. Not only is the film full of climaxes, but every time you think you have a handle on it, it takes a severe right turn. People die. Lots of people die. But it’s never who you expect and it’s never when you expect it, or how. Every single death surprised me.
But lets back up a bit and get into the plot (as spoiler free as I can). Three teenage boys meet a girl on the internet and drive out into the woods to have sex with her. Through a series of unfortunate events, however, they instead encounter the 5 Points Baptist Church lead by Pastor Abin Cooper. These “church”goers believe in specific parts of the bible, namely the “Punishment for Sin is death” parts.
Honestly, I don’t know how much more I can say without ruining any of the surprise. But I will say this. The ticket to the movie/Q&A was 70 bucks, plus ticketmaster fees, plus gas, plus 12 dollars parking, plus a 20 dollar whiskey in the lobby beforehand. All things considered, I probably paid 120 dollars to see this movie, and I do not feel shortchanged in the slightest. If I could pay another 20 and watch it again RIGHT NOW, I would. I’ll definitely go again in August, when it opens wide.
I’m voting with my wallet, which is the highest vote of confidence I can give.
Catch up on past installments:
April Fool’s Day
Leprechaun
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Valentine
Jason X
Jason Goes to Hell – The Final Friday
Friday the 13th Part VII: Jason Takes Manhattan
A special note about the poster featured above: Rather than just release the teaser posters to every big entertainment site, Kevin Smith auctioned off the poster release and donated the money to charity. Blog site Giant Fire Breathing Robot won the right to debut the poster in this blog post by donating $2,000.00 to Have Faith Haiti, a charity helping kids in Haiti.
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