Crabby McGrouchpants This moves at a clip unbelievable. Not unrelated, I'd have to believe, is Kevin Smith's role as editor -- like Steven Soderbergh (whose done plenty of his own films, under a pseudonym), the Coens (under the name "Roderick Jaynes"), John Sayles, and a surprising number more-than-you'd-think of directors, this seems to put more of the film "in hand."And how!In this case, Smith eschews humor almost (but not quite) entirely; even the jokes in the film are for the characters to respond to ("Zing!") without leaving room for the audience to respond as such. The pace is breathless without losing the viewer, contemporary without being preachy or pedantic, and draws off recent events (through the '90s) as though our sense of the world is viewed differently, altered and updated without parroting or mimicking said events ... you'll just have to see it for yourself!People who keep up with current events will be rewarded -- particularly since this means getting a sense of the *beating pulse* of the humans behind the actions, not just some ideological stance. John Goodman's given more to do than in most (non-Coens) films you've seen him in lately, and he relishes and runs with it.Is this movie funny, clever, scary, unsettling? You betcha!From Kevin Smith? Holy s***!(Where's the next one, referred to in the end credits? Sadly, this one went over too poorly to merit a pick-up ... so far!)

Phoenixphire81 An interesting film and a nice change of pace from Kevin Smith. While there are definitely some genuine comic moments, they are few and far between. Instead there is a mix of genres that somehow seems to work. The film is at first a horror/thriller and totally drew me in. It is dark, frantic and tense. It soon moulds into a siege film, a bit of decent gun play with a little escape excitement thrown in. The film does get a little confused in its delivery but not in its message. In this world, there are ridiculous reasons which people use to condone evil actions (particularly within religion), and the extent to which they follow these beliefs into actions of violence and terrorism continues to astound me. Kevin Smith does well to endue hatred for the Cooper 'family' early on in the film and Michael Parks, as the head of this group of nutters, is charismatic and passionate, even if it is absolute nonsense that he is preaching. There are loads of recognisable faces in this, taken from pools of talent from both film and TV (Breaking Bad, True Blood). John Goodman is probably the most known of these and does a believable turn as the federal agent charged with taking the Coopers down. It's important to note that the government are not the good guys here either. They have their share of dark decisions and idiotic actions. I did enjoy this film....but this level of fanaticism in the name of God is guaranteed to make me angry and so I inevitably found this fairly uncomfortable watching.

himynameisbjl I don't understand why this movie doesn't have a higher ranking. I saw this movie without even knowing it was written and directed by Kevin Smith. When mentioning to one of my friends that i had seen probably the best horror movie since "Silence of The Lambs", they had informed me that it was Kevin Smiths attempt at a horror flick. Seriously though, the preacher plays one of the most believable characters I have ever seen in a movie, let alone a horror-ish movie. I am a tough critic with movies in general and this is definitely in my top 10.ITS AN ORIGINAL MOVIE FOR CHRISTS SAKE! Every year recycled dumb plots hit movie theaters, and the horror genre is the absolute worst. "Split 2017" has a higher rating than this movie, seriously wtf? It's laughable.Overall.... Plot: A+ Acting: B+ - A (Preacher is one of the best ever.) Cinematography: A (its a very unique style) If you haven't seen this yet and you are somehow reading this review. Just watch the movie.

blumdeluxe John Goodman Michael Parks "Red State" tells the story of three teenage boys looking for a hot night, that stumble into an extremist church instead and are threatened with death and the actions this leads to.My five stars are a hard judgment. There would have been reasons to give it a six, but somehow it doesn't feel right. Learning that this was one of Terentino's favorite films of 2011, I get the feeling we don't share a taste in films.What's really good though about Red State is the casting. Exceptional acting by John Goodman and Michael Parks really create believable characters and there are several more that really put their heart in it. I guess that the topic of religious fundamentalism is as urgent as ever and surely delivers good points for a thrilling plot. Altogether, I have to state nonetheless that there was plenty of time wasted in this film. While some aspects of the story fall quite short we get to see extensive preaches and minutes of shooting instead. In my opinion a more clever use of time would have put some more depth into the story. Also in the end the film just tried to include a few to many aspects like terror laws, faith in general, hidden homosexuality and thereby misses to create one stringent viewer experience.I am most certain that some people will love this movie and I can think of quite a few reasons to justify this, all in all it just wasn't a hundred percent my cup of tea.