By Ezra Stead
Red State, USA, 2011
Written and Directed by Kevin Smith
Last week in my Halloween Movie Month series, we took a look at The Skin I Live In, an unusual film from director Pedro Almodovar, who is not usually known for the kind of shock and horror seen in that film. I am always excited to see my favorite filmmakers stretch beyond what they normally produce and explore other genres. For years I have been wanting to see Wes Anderson tackle some sort of gothic horror story, for example, given his obsessively detailed visual style in films like The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), instead of retreading the familiar ground of his previous films; when he finally made the Roald Dahl adaptation Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2009, I applauded him for stepping (even slightly) in a different direction by directing an animated film. Similarly, I applaud Kevin Smith for stepping away from the talky, visually underwhelming comedies for which he is known with his latest film, Red State, a nasty, tense, visceral thriller that, while satirical and occasionally funny, is miles away from a comedy.
Red State is a cinematic middle finger to the vicious, hateful Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church, an organization best known for the highly tasteful and respectable practice of protesting funerals in order to garner controversy. They also recently decided to protest the funeral of Apple founder Steve Jobs, because, according to Phelps, he “had a huge platform [but] gave God no glory & taught sin,” a sentiment ironically expressed via Phelps’s iPhone. Phelps and his family and followers are true believers in the old adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity, and it is tempting (and very easy) to hate them right back, which is exactly what they seem to want. Though Phelps is eventually mentioned by name in the film’s narrative, his overt fictional surrogate is one Abin Cooper (Michael Parks), a malevolent, fire-and-brimstone preacher who looks a bit like a more diminutive Kris Kristofferson with eyeglasses. Cooper and his followers regularly hold demonstrations in which they hold up signs offering such charming sentiments as “Anal Penetration = Eternal Damnation.” Read More
Maybe the most interesting thing about Red State has less to do with the film that we watch, and more with the reaction it incites in critics. Upon its debut, it seemed that nobody could figure out what the film was supposed to be – horror, action, comedy, good, bad, watchable … Kevin Smith obviously knew what he was doing, but it’s almost like he refused to let anyone in on the joke. Oddly enough, though, it worked.
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