Red State is one of the most terrifying films I have seen since the Exorcist. This comes as quite a surprise since it comes from the mind of Kevin Smith, a man who is new to the art of the scare and is better known for his comedic styling (he made the clerks films, among others).
Red State begins as a teen sex comedy, then it morphs into a terrifying look at religion before it finally becomes a fast-paced (and yet still terrifying) action thriller. It is a rare breed, and it deals with the subject of religion without ever really taking sides (it doesn't question the existance of a God, it just follows a group of demented religious extremists. The film never says that a belief in God is wrong, or that religion is evil. It just touches on a simple fact: sometimes people take things too far).
Red State begins under the macguffin of 3 teens heading out for a quickie with a lady they met online, but before anything can happen the rug is pulled out fom under them and they find themselves at the mercy of a radical group of religious extremeists that consider the 3 part of a plague that MUST be wiped out. Before long though, Feds interrupt their fun and the rest of the film from here on out takes place during a heated firefight between the feds (led by the always amazing John Goodman) and the religious extremists ( led by Michael Parks).
Michael Parks plays the character of Abin, the god fearing and hate filled preacher that preaches fire and damnation. He advocates for violence against the teens they have captured saying that the old testament is against the killing of men, not the killing of insects (the message being that these kids are filth and so it's perfectly ok to torture and murder them). He does an outstanding job of making us fear and hate him, and pretty much every second he is on the screen you are rooting for him to bite the bullet. He is a great antagonist for the film, showing no remorse for the crimes he himself is commitiing and the crimes he encourages others to commit.
Nicholas Braun, Ronnie Connell, and Kyle Gallner (You may have seen him in Jennifer's Body and Nightmare on Elm Street 2010) play the three kids that are dragged to the hell church. They are believable in their all encompassing fear and are extremely easy to root for. That said, they are not given a whole lot to do here except to pee their pants, run, scream, and cry. Although the film pretends that they are the main characters, in reality they are not. After a while they are reduced to more-or-less background characters (this isn't a bad thing, coming across as a surprisingly fresh move)
John Goodman is Joseph Keenan, the federal agent put in charge of the operation at hand (which is to investigate the church and find any illegal firearms the extremists may be hiding). He works for the ATF (Buraeu of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives). What is suppossed to be a simple in and out quickly escalates out of hand as the extremists take up arms against the feds. John Goodman is superb as always as the moral compass for the film. He is pretty much the star of the film and the character that the film is grounded on. His character has to make several difficult decisions throughout the film that come with all too real consquences, and it is great fun to watch him hesitate with the tasks excpected of him. He may be aging (his age shows quite a bit in this film) but John Goodman is still one of the best actors out there today.
Red State is a new breed in the horror/thriller genre, using the topics of religion vs. government and religion vs. society as its means to scare the audience (and scare it does). It makes unexpected turns and goes places the audience wouldn't see coming, it's filled with many great (and disturbing) surprises. Built on a decent script and standing on several great performances from its leads (Melissa Leo is also terrifying as the woman that tricks the 3 teens and Kerry Bishe emerges as a rising star with her portrayal of Cheyenne; one of the extremists who recognizes that her and the others have done wrong but insists that they should be put on trial instead of being slaughtered as the feds want), Red State easily emerges as the scariest, most thought provoking film of 2011 thus far.
4/5 Stars
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