Dir. Kevin Smith
When three teenage friends answer an online invitation for sex, they are kidnapped by an extreme right-wing Christian cult who plan on punishing them for their ‘deviancy.’
The prospect of Kevin Smith addressing extreme Christian hate groups through the conventions of horror cinema is, for this writer anyway, an irresistible one. Smith already addressed the dangers of organised religion in Dogma, which, while rather plodding and uneven, was still an interesting departure for the director, famed for his lo-fi slacker-driven stories. While Red State may be a different beast entirely, it also sadly slides into unevenness of tone as the plot eventually crumbles under weighty speeches and a limp, exposition-heavy finale. Differing from the usual religious horror, the threat in Red State comes not from Satan or the occult, but from a fundamentalist right-wing Christian cult who believe their faith entitles them to carry out brutal acts of violence in the name of God. Inspired by the downright abhorrent, homophobic Westboro Baptist church, Smith’s film has so much promise, and while he does attempt to address heated topics such as the picketing of gay funerals by religious extremists and the indoctrination of the young into what is essentially a religious cult, his first foray into horror sadly runs out of ammunition before trundling into a half-hearted and underdeveloped slump. This could have been such a powerful film about the extremes of right-wing fundamentalism, but it just unravels to deliver increasing disappointment.
It is essentially a film of two parts. The first is a genuinely taut and distressing horror narrative inspired by religious extremism and filtered through torture porn aesthetics. The three teens who find themselves abducted by the hate-cult are somewhat typical slasher types with no real substance; the only characterisation afforded them is their keenness to have sex. The lack of characterisation is a let down given Smith’s penchant for colourful characters with pointed opinions and biting wit. When their lives are endangered however, we root for them on a purely human level and because their captors are utterly unreasonable and delusional. The scene in which one of the teens awakens from drug-induced unconsciousness, bound up in a cage and being wheeled into a fiery anti-gay sermon conducted by the Fred Phelps-inspired Abin Cooper (Michael Parks), is expertly constructed, as queasy tension steadily mounts throughout the vitriolic sermon, culminating with a sickeningly brutal death. Alas, the initial intensity soon abates and is absent from the rest of the film, which unfolds as a darkly comic siege narrative heavily inspired by the 1993 Waco siege. The self-righteous fundamentalists eventually engage in a violent shoot out with ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) agents led by John Goodman.
Tension is initially generated by the congregation’s sanctimonious self-righteousness and the way in which Abin Cooper whips them into a worrying frenzy with his onslaught of anti-gay bile, ‘supported’ by quotes from the Bible. However, proceedings soon run out of steam and Red State becomes rather muddled and uneven. As the siege continues, its futility becomes comically absurd. The state cops are painted in the same unflattering light as the cult, and Smith touches on how religion and politics are still intertwined in contemporary US society. Smith openly acknowledges that the character of Cooper is based on the Westboro Baptist Church pastor, Fred Phelps; infamous for picketing the funerals of not only gay people, but also soldiers – who he claims were killed by God as judgement for the US’s acceptance of homosexuality. Cooper’s belief that he is entitled to cleanse America of gays rightly gets the blood boiling. It’s too bad the bordering on slap-stick ending dilutes the film's potential to unsettle.
With the ingredients for a highly emotive and provocative story, Red State fails to reach its potential. While never anything less than entertaining, it just lacks the powerful impact such heated subject matter could evoke.