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Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, Dermot Mulroney, John Goodman, Kyle Gallner ... see more see more... , Michael Angarano , Stephen Root , Nicholas Braun , Kevin Pollak , Kerry Bishé , Betty Aberlin , Kevin Alejandro , Anna Gunn , Jennifer Schwalbach Smith

Red State unfolds in a small town dominated by a fundamentalist preacher, Abin Cooper. It tells the story of three high school boys who, on their way to an internet arranged meeting with a woman, end ... read more read more...up crossing paths with Cooper. The encounter sets into motion a series of events that causes all hell to break loose. -- (C) SModcast

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11,260 ratings

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78 critics

R, 1 hr. 28 min.

Directed by: Kevin Smith

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DVD Release Date: October 18, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (2,023)

  • flixsterman
    May 21, 2012
    flixsterman
    Obviously inspired by Rev. Fred Phelps (Topeka, Kansas) and David Koresh (Waco, Texas), Kevin Smith's Red State is an indictment of cults, zealots and law enforcement tactics. Nicely crafted and superbly cast. Highly recommended.
  • tolkienfan101
    May 8, 2012
    tolkienfan101
    Most of the current college generation is aware of the large filmography of director Kevin Smith, bringing many of us such cult favorites as Mall Rats, Clerks and Dogma. However, the most recent work of Kevin Smith was the independent film Red State. Unlike all of his previous fi... read morelms, Smith created a horror-action film that has a bite of its own that makes what I can consider to be the strongest film of his whole career. Released in 2011, the film played in very select cities and its theatrical run was brief. This is mainly due to the fact that Smith self-distributed the film after âthe film played to a good but not great reaction in its world premiere (at Sundance) and announced to the audience (after auctioning the film to himself for $20) that he would release the film on his own said LA Times reporter John Horn. It is quite true that the critical reaction to the film has been mixed, splitting the reaction amongst critics down the middle, however I believe Red State is a wonderfully executed film.
    Shot on RED-ONE Digital cameras, the film is an overblown satirical commentary on the members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Ironically enough, the Westboro church members are actually mentioned by name in the film as a comparison to the fictional fanatical church members in the film. The movie starts out following a trio of teenage boys searching through local online sex lines, trying to find loose local women. They trek out to the woman's house (a mobile home in the woods) and then, while consuming the woman's alcohol, are drugged and pass out. They awake during a fanatical church sermon by the main antagonist of the film, Abin Cooper (played by Michael Parks), which I now consider to be one of the scariest performances put on screen in recent years. The rest of the film depicts the efforts of these boys to flee the compound and the fervent beliefs of all of the church members referring to homosexuality and its subsequent effects on humanity.
    With superb cast members such as John Goodman (The Big Lebowski), Patrick Fischler (Mulholland Drive), Kevin Pollak (The Usual Suspects) and Melissa Leo (The Fighter), and a range of various other talent, the acting in this film is realistic, well blocked and very captivating. These performances are helped along by the brilliant cinematography by David Klein, which creates a taught and anxious setting where audiences are taken to face the horrors that the characters are living through, and we suffer along with them, whether we want to or not. All of these elements (along with superb art design by Susan Bolles ("Scrubs") and Cabot McMullen ("Spin City")) Kevin Smith directs his screenplay extraordinarily well, which contain very length and passionate monologues, and very testing scenes of violence and torture. However, unlike the many works of directors Eli Roth (Hostel) and Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw Franchise), these scenes are not placed to get solely a shock factor, they comment on the dangers of unchecked ideology in the face of fanaticism, similar to the tyrannical ways of Jim Jones hold over the People's Temple.
    It is scary, realistic, and wickedly funny when it wants to be, thrilling and complex. Are there elements that could use work? Of course, as any movie would say, but what Red State does well, it does it extremely well. A film that so many have ignored for the past year, it is a movie that can soothe the wants and tastes of many a movie fan.
  • FrizzDrop
    April 28, 2012
    FrizzDrop
    It was a good honest try, it really was, for Kevin Smith, writer and director of so many slacker comedies from the past decade that reflect heavy dialogue and a knowledge of a people who he himself claims to not be. He delves again into an area he knows nothing about with this sh... read morearp commentary on something that has become a focal point to many of these unpredictable horror films coming out as of late. This wasn't ultimately a stretch of the imagination, and I think people give Smith far too much credit for something that has been played out, and so much better, in so many other indie horror films. The reason I see so much potential for Smith in the coming years and maybe reimagining this genre, is because he really does know his dialogue, however crude and eclectic. He makes these characters really pop, well, except for the three boys who seem snatched from all his other films, but since they aren't the focal point of the film I give forgiveness easily. What also sets this film apart is the amazing cast that was assembled for this. We've got John Goodman of all people, who is one of the best supporting, or leading, actors of our time, and remains the one lasting impression I took away from this. He's tortured, but not in a maudlin way, he's a strict G-Men, but doesn't overcompensate. He's just the right level of everything, and he lends the most of himself. Other amazing performances come from the incomparable Melissa Leo as a Christian cult fanatic, Michael Parks as their homicidal leader, Stephen Root as the guilty sheriff, and Kyle Gallner as one of three boys who are captured. No, I don't believe this is a direct middle finger to organized religion, but just a convenient setting for a story about a worshipping bunch of living martyrs who do horrible things to people and believe in them wholeheartedly. It loses it's horror by being tame at many points, including using guns as their weapons of choice. What's so horrific about a piece of machinery that resides in many homes in America? It's not very graphic, or horrible such as the over the top Hostel and the psychological Audition. I would give it a watch nonetheless, in order to appreciate a filmmaker taking a chance.
  • MidnightMadwoman
    April 25, 2012
    MidnightMadwoman
    Ooh. This movie's got problems. I don't think Kevin Smith really gets horror, you know? For example, monsters in horror movies can be armed any number of cruel garden tools or implements with which to visit pain upon the flesh of the unwary. Guns are pretty much the absolute leas... read moret scary weapons they could wield. Imagine that you've escaped attacks from a werewolf, a bunch of Cenobites and Leslie Vernon, then you're confronted by an armed tactical forces guy who's screaming at you. Comparatively, he just ain't scary. This movie needed more pain and terror - and interesting plot twists - and fewer long-ass Hellfire sermons and protracted gunfights. Smith's distinctive dialogue is second to none, but he really drops the ball when it comes down to coming up with cool ways of freaking out an audience. This movie is a bit of a mess which is a shame, because it could have been way better.
  • LWOODS04
    February 27, 2012
    LWOODS04
    Cast: Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Kyle Gallner, Michael Angarano, Nicholas Braun, Stephen Root, Kerry Bishé, Kevin Pollak, Marc Blucas, Kevin Alejandro, Anna Gunn

    Director: Kevin Smith

    Summary: Director Kevin Smith puts a unique spin on the horror genre in t... read morehis tale of hormonal urges gone awry. Three high school boys answer an online ad from a woman seeking wild sex and soon find themselves in the hands of some dangerous religious zealots.

    My Thoughts: "This is an perfect example why people fear church, not God, but church. Religion is strong in this film and so is a harsh look at what the government is capable of. I didn't think you could be so scared of a preacher man, but then I watched Michael Parks as Abin Cooper, quite frightening. I've red comments about people saying it's an anti-christian film. I disagree. I think it's a film based on some people who take their religous beleifs too far. I heard that the Westboro Baptist Church picketed every screening and that Kevin Smith actually gave them tickets to see the film. I think that was brilliant. They have their rights to preach and believe what they will, but doing it at funerals is just wrong. Kevin Smith really has stepped out of his norm with this film, and I'd like to see more. The film is thought-provoking, darkly funny, and as twisted as one gets. The great cast and fantastic acting really brings this indie horror/thriller to life. It's definitely one people are going to either love or hate."
  • danperry17
    February 19, 2012
    danperry17
    As the front cover says: "An unlikely film from that Kevin Smith." I enjoyed that Smith branched out, but his edits looked cheap, and some of the dialogue was overdone. Where he got it right, though, was in the monologues he wrote for the leader of the ultra-Christian sect at Coo... read moreper's Dell; filtered through the gigantic performance Michael Parks gives, they really bring the insanity and the manipulation to life. With fun small parts by Stephen Root and Kevin Pollak, plus John Goodman as an angry ATF agent, there's a lot going for this film, but the religious zealots are just too two-dimensional to take the film seriously. Lots of good lines and guns going off, but nothing too special going on here.
  • SirPant
    January 25, 2012
    SirPant
    Red State is a strange one and a hard film to rate, it certainly isn't Dogma 2 - which I was kind of expecting. Kevin Smith has said that what he was trying to achieve with this film was a level of uncomfortableness. He has said that it's like 'Going to sit on a chair and just as... read more you are about to sit, I turn it over and you sit on one of the legs, then I turn it over again and the process continues' - unfortunately, he misses the point that after a while, the fact that you know not to expect a predictable storyline, makes it predictable. Anyway, it is unpredictable, original and interesting. It switches from one genres to the next, which I have to say I found refreshing, why do films/stories have to stick to one genres? OK, so QT and Rodriguez did it in From Dusk till Dawn long before, as have other directors but Red State is still pretty individual. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting from a Kevin Smith film. His heart, and more importantly, his head is in the right place. I prefer Lars Von Triers school of thought though, 'A film should be like a stone in your shoe' bit I think they are essentially saying the same thing, Kevin Smith is just a little more brash. I like the way they send up Fred Phelps, a character far more frightening than Freddy Kruger or Micheal Myers - Michael Parks's performance is terrifyingly good, he leads a really good cast who are all on top form. The Westboro Baptist Church actually toured with the film and picketed at every screening, you can't buy publicity like that, which was lucky for Smith as it was pretty much a 99.9% independant movie that only made money as it toured the contry so he was welcoming of any publisity he could get. I liked Red State, I think the independant film making aspect of it, the genres twisting and the religoues and political issues it raises make it very original and interesting, at times it's more 'interesting' than entertaining but credit where it's due, this film deserves recognition. It does depend on your train of thought as to wether you like this film though, middle America scares the hell out of me and it's always easy to see things when your looking from the outside, but I get it but then will the people it's aimed at?
  • cosmo313
    January 19, 2012
    cosmo313
    Kevin Smith's 10th, and second to final film is definitely an interesting one. For a few reasons. For one, it's a genre hopper and unlike anything he's done before. It's also a return to his roots in that it's a true independent film in the sense that it's self promoted, had no a... read mored campaign, and shot over 25 days and had a budget of somewhere around $4 Million.

    The film starts off in rather typical Smith fashion with three vulgar horny teens on the prowl trying to arrange group sex with a woman online. When they go to meet up with her, that's when things get nuts. Turns out she a member of a group of psychotic fundamentalist religious extremists a la Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church, and the three teens have been lured into a trap set by the church to demonstrate the act of righteous action. Word gets out about the disappearance of the three and soon the ATF are on the scene and the film shifts again into a full blown showdown reminiscent of notorious incidents at Ruby Ridge and Waco.

    So, there you go: sex shenanigans, to a horror type of thing, to an action flick. All in all, it's best to just call this a thriller, given the shifting tone of things. I kinda liked the left turns this makes, similar to From Dusk Till Dawn, though not as fun or strong overall. Also, the film isn't funny. It's not supposed to be. There were maybe a couple of ties I got somewhat tickled, but it was of the gallows variety of humor, and probably not intended, but not in the bad kind of unintentional laughter type of way.

    The film has a lot of neat and good things going for it. It's a great concept for a thriller, and, even though religious nuts are an easy target, there's still enough in the well to make for great discourse and discussion. As per usual though, Smith is better with the ideas than with the execution. He does a decent enough job though, even though the end result is still a flawed mixed bag.

    I'll start with the bad so I can end strong. Smith's films are talky. This is no secret. This one is too, maybe a little too talky for its own good. The sermon that serves as the centerpiece is great though, that's not where the film is too talky. Where the film struggles the most if with the conclusion. It ends rather abruptly and there's way too much exposition to explain how it concludes, but even then some of the specifics are kidn of neat. It jsut needed to be more tidy and show far more than tell. It's an uneven film, but that's hard to fault too much since genre shifting is involved. Still though, Smith's been doing this long enough to have learned something about filmmaking by now.

    Okay, here's where the film works: great concept, great cast, strong performances. Michael Parks is a notable character actor, but this is a real showcase for his talents that will hopefully lead him to more prominent and substantial roles. He's chillingly effective as the hateful church leader Abin Cooper and makes for a compelling antagonist. Melissa Leo is also good, though perhaps a tad overboard as his nutty daughter Sara who lures the boys in and gets the film going. John Goodman is quite strong as the ATF agent in charge of bringing the church down. Even though the diasppearance of the boys is somewhat important, the film points out that the church was already being targeted, and the part with the boys is more of a catalyst. Stephen Root is decent as a local sherrif, Kyle Gallner is fine as one of the three teens, and Kerry Brishe is good as one of the church followers who actually seems sympathetic.

    That's another thing. This film boldly decides to have basically no characters that are really all that sympathetic and likeable. Sure, it makes the film harder to relate to, as well as harder to care about the characters, but in a way, it seems more realistic that way, and adds an interesting dimension of moral ambiguity that just further strengthens the film's "interesting" level.

    All in all, this is a tough nut to crack. I should probably dock this by a half star, as it doesn't totally come together and work as a coherent whole, but I'll be nice and give it some credit becuase it is an experiment, and sees Smith trying to branch out and do somethign different. Plus, it is very compelling, has osme really good performances, and it's cool seeing the film keep you guessing with the shifts.
  • liquidchick76
    January 4, 2012
    liquidchick76
    It wasn't without its flaws, but overall, Red State is pretty decent. Worth a look.
  • thefog1331
    December 29, 2011
    thefog1331
    Smith should stick to comedy such as it is. His idea of tension is bland, his character development is non-existent and it's so clear he had no idea how to end this film. The acting however is wonderful and I quite enjoyed watching the deranged Parks as well as Leo and Goodman.

View All Red State Reviews

Critic Reviews

Justin Chang
December 13, 2011
Justin Chang, Variety

Calculated to outrage and executed to underwhelm, Kevin Smith's Red State is like a dull blade slashing wildly, predictably and ineffectually at its target. Full Review

Andrew O'Hehir
October 20, 2011
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

It's a charming if conspicuously unfinished film, a half-riotous, half-idiotic send-up of the teen horror genre with a vaguely hip political twist. Full Review

William Goss
September 23, 2011
William Goss, Film.com

Wants so badly to push viewers' buttons, but struggles to reach them more often than not. Full Review

A.O. Scott
September 22, 2011
A.O. Scott, New York Times

For all its boisterous profanity and splattery violence, the film is more of a weary sigh than a sputtering volley of indignation. Full Review

Stephen Whitty
March 19, 2011
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

Add a bunch of forgettable characters (including a one-note Melissa Leo) and an ending which flirts with (but then flees from) a truly provocative climax, and you've got a project which perhaps only R... Full Review

Todd McCarthy
January 25, 2011
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter

Red State is cleverly contrarian enough to get a rise out of almost any audience. Full Review

R. L. Shaffer
January 29, 2012
R. L. Shaffer, IGN DVD

A flat, talky, derivative "horror" film that's not very controversial despite how much it thinks it is. Full Review

Jason Best
January 25, 2012
Jason Best, Movie Talk

Taking equal opportunity swipes at Christian fundamentalist bigots and the US government, Kevin Smith's subversively satirical movie keeps its audience continually off balance. Full Review

Lucius Gore
January 7, 2012
Lucius Gore, ESplatter

One of the best white trash horror films in recent memory. Full Review

Kevin A. Ranson
November 27, 2011
Kevin A. Ranson, MovieCrypt.com

Full of controversial subjects and interesting characters, it's the story that ultimately fails. Full Review

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    • ASAC Brooks: You said this was going to be a simple in and out sir? Simple just shit its self.
    • Sarah Cooper: I don't let no man near me unless he's got at least two beers in him.
    • Pastor Abin Cooper: I fear God. You better believe I fear God.
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