Red State (Blu-ray)

I was lucky enough to see this movie at the cinema, with the director in attendance, and I thought it was amazing.

Billed as a horror, it is more of a horror-comedy, about a religious cult in the US who is armed and dangerous, and the police attempt to stop them. Staring the sherrif from Kill Bill / Dusk to Dawn, who is fantastic as the preacher in charge of the cult, and John Goodman (from Roseanne) as the main police guy, the whole movie runs between a Tarrantino-esque blood-bath and a Cohen brothers dark comedy.

The acting and story are great, and I would recommend this to anyone who likes their comedies dark and bloody!!

This is one of the best films of the past year, a fantastic horror/thriller from director Kevin Smith who usually sticks to doing comedy, this is no joke but a straight up serious film and a breath of fresh air from the director, and he proves hes good at it too, this is a fantastic film with a good story and some gritty and bloody action as well as sharp dialogue and a smart cast including outstanding performances from Michael parks and John Goodman, this is a gem of a film and must be seen, any fan of a good horror/thriller will certainly enjoy it, there are good features too.

Firstly, let me get this out of the way. I LOVE Kevin Smith.
THIS movie however could do with cutting out around an hour from the middle. Watch the first 25 minutes and the last 25 minutes and you'll love it (And still understand the storyline). I watched this purely because Kevin Smith directed it, so if you're planning on watching it for the same reason, don't.

Red State (2011) is a horror thriller starring Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, Michael Angarano and John Goodman. This is a very strange movie to review. Red State begins as a horror with a group of teenagers being captured by religious fanatics but half way through it takes a left turn and develops into a tense seige thriller. Michael Parks gives a terrific performance. He is magnetic and at one point undertakes a 15 minute monologue which is never dull. John Goodman is also better then he has been in years as the ATF Agent dealing with the seige. Writer/director Kevin Smith (Clerks) script has some terrific dialogue. Parks religious speeches are enthralling while there are some very funny lines which you would expect from a Smith movie. Sadly the movie suffers because the switch from horror to seige thriller is jarring and the tone of the movie is at odds with Smith's brand of humour. There is also a moment at the end which threatens to take the movie in a comepletely shocking direction but then doesn't. Red State is a weird mess of a movie but it is entertaining and it is Kevin Smith back in form and over the mistake that was Cop Out.

I heard that this maybe kevin smiths retirement film if it is then it is a worthy bowing out film. I seen this in the cinema and wasn't disappointed had some good scene's in it and it is really hard to make out who is actually gonna survive to the end of the film which was refreshing to see in a thriller. It is also quite real in the way it shows everything like most thrillers now have massive cgi parts or unbelievable action set pieces this doesn't go down that alley and i applaud smith for that. Red state as with a lot of kevin smith movies has a certain sense of humour to it and you either get it or don't and i also loved that about red state the dark humour in it is some of the best i have seen in a thriller. Overall Enjoyable.