horrorfixxx


My name is Tommy. I'm a 21-year-old college student from the primitive wilds of Kentucky who really likes horror films. Like, a lot. This blog is my tribute to them. It features creepy pictures, gifs, reviews, ramblings and fiction.
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It’s no secret that I’m a HUGE Kevin Smith fan. Figuratively and literally. I’ve seen all of his films several times and have nearly 500 of his podcasts on my hard drive right now. I own Kevin Smith comics and Kevin Smith Q&A DVDs and Kevin Smith posters. Hell, I’ve met Jason Mewes. Suffice it to say, when Kev announced his first horror film, Red State, in 2006, I couldn’t wait to see it. Unfortunately, I had to. The film was delayed for years as Kevin searched unsuccessfully for conventional studio financing for a film that promised to be radically different from the rest of his work. When the money never surfaced he put the project on the backburner, moving onto Zack and Miri Make A Porno, a wonderful, Apatow-esque comedy featuring Seth Rogen that did disappointing business due to confusing marketing and an awful Halloween day release date. Still unable to finance Red State, he directed Cop Out, the first Kevin Smith film not written by Kevin Smith. It wasn’t bad, but it certainly lacked soul. It was a critical—but not a commercial—failure. Faced with the prospect of working within the Hollywood system for the rest of his career, toiling away on films like Cop Out, he opted instead to return to his roots. An independent filmmaker at heart—his career began with Clerks, which Kevin maxed out several credit cards to fund—he distanced himself from the studios and sought independent financing for the project he was so passionate about. In 2010, finally, a minuscule budget was secured and the film was shot. In January of 2011, it was announced that Kevin would personally release the film instead of selling the distribution rights, in order to avoid wasting tens of millions on expensive print and television ads—media that’s, honestly, no longer relevant. Advertising the film directly to his audience on twitter and his SModcast podcast network, Smith has since recouped the film’s budget—and then some—through limited theatrical and widespread streaming releases. The film stands as indisputable proof that the traditional—and expensive—theatrical releasing model that Hollywood is so accustomed to is a broken one. But is it worth watching? Absolutely. I led with that massive intro because I find it incredibly inspiring, but believe me: the film works, with or without that story to sell you on it. I can’t necessarily recommend it to everyone, though, just because it’s so not a conventional horror film. The film’s plot is (very) loosely based on the exploits of the Westboro Baptist Church, centering around a group of extremist Christian homophobes that ritualistically sacrifice so-called “sinners” in an underground church. As such, your own views of Christianity do sort of dictate your perception of the film. I myself have never had a particularly positive relationship with religion—in my youth it was instilled in me that God is a creature to be feared—so the film really works for me. If you’re a more spiritual person, you may find it a bit uncomfortable. That said, it’s probably worth shaking that off for the film’s stellar acting. Michael Parks, pictured above, plays Pastor Abin Cooper, the film’s central antagonist. His performance is—and I say this without any sense of hyperbole—one of the most chilling that I’ve ever seen. I put very little stock in the Academy Awards, but if that man doesn’t get nominated for something and win it’ll be a travesty. He’s that good. John Goodman is no slouch either—really, there’s not a bad egg in the bunch—but this is definitely Parks’ film. I’m getting chills just thinking about the sermon he delivers midway through it. It’s also just a wonderfully clever film. The opening ten minutes feels like textbook Kevin Smith—not that there’s anything wrong with that. As if by design, you’re given a few minutes to get comfortable with a “typical” Kevin Smith movie, before things are turned on their head again, and again, and again. Every time you think things are going one way, they go another—and I mean that in a good way. It’s easy to make a horror film with a series of illogical twists for the sake of illogical twists; it’s not so easy to make one that manages to be both surprising and convincing. Kevin Smith achieves that with Red State. Watch it. Now. I’ll wait here until you’re done. After all, it’s on Netflix.

It’s no secret that I’m a HUGE Kevin Smith fan. Figuratively and literally. I’ve seen all of his films several times and have nearly 500 of his podcasts on my hard drive right now. I own Kevin Smith comics and Kevin Smith Q&A DVDs and Kevin Smith posters. Hell, I’ve met Jason Mewes. Suffice it to say, when Kev announced his first horror film, Red State, in 2006, I couldn’t wait to see it.

Unfortunately, I had to. The film was delayed for years as Kevin searched unsuccessfully for conventional studio financing for a film that promised to be radically different from the rest of his work. When the money never surfaced he put the project on the backburner, moving onto Zack and Miri Make A Porno, a wonderful, Apatow-esque comedy featuring Seth Rogen that did disappointing business due to confusing marketing and an awful Halloween day release date. Still unable to finance Red State, he directed Cop Out, the first Kevin Smith film not written by Kevin Smith. It wasn’t bad, but it certainly lacked soul. It was a critical—but not a commercial—failure.

Faced with the prospect of working within the Hollywood system for the rest of his career, toiling away on films like Cop Out, he opted instead to return to his roots. An independent filmmaker at heart—his career began with Clerks, which Kevin maxed out several credit cards to fund—he distanced himself from the studios and sought independent financing for the project he was so passionate about.

In 2010, finally, a minuscule budget was secured and the film was shot. In January of 2011, it was announced that Kevin would personally release the film instead of selling the distribution rights, in order to avoid wasting tens of millions on expensive print and television ads—media that’s, honestly, no longer relevant. Advertising the film directly to his audience on twitter and his SModcast podcast network, Smith has since recouped the film’s budget—and then some—through limited theatrical and widespread streaming releases. The film stands as indisputable proof that the traditional—and expensive—theatrical releasing model that Hollywood is so accustomed to is a broken one.

But is it worth watching?

Absolutely. I led with that massive intro because I find it incredibly inspiring, but believe me: the film works, with or without that story to sell you on it. I can’t necessarily recommend it to everyone, though, just because it’s so not a conventional horror film. The film’s plot is (very) loosely based on the exploits of the Westboro Baptist Church, centering around a group of extremist Christian homophobes that ritualistically sacrifice so-called “sinners” in an underground church. As such, your own views of Christianity do sort of dictate your perception of the film. I myself have never had a particularly positive relationship with religion—in my youth it was instilled in me that God is a creature to be feared—so the film really works for me. If you’re a more spiritual person, you may find it a bit uncomfortable.

That said, it’s probably worth shaking that off for the film’s stellar acting. Michael Parks, pictured above, plays Pastor Abin Cooper, the film’s central antagonist. His performance is—and I say this without any sense of hyperbole—one of the most chilling that I’ve ever seen. I put very little stock in the Academy Awards, but if that man doesn’t get nominated for something and win it’ll be a travesty. He’s that good. John Goodman is no slouch either—really, there’s not a bad egg in the bunch—but this is definitely Parks’ film. I’m getting chills just thinking about the sermon he delivers midway through it.

It’s also just a wonderfully clever film. The opening ten minutes feels like textbook Kevin Smith—not that there’s anything wrong with that. As if by design, you’re given a few minutes to get comfortable with a “typical” Kevin Smith movie, before things are turned on their head again, and again, and again. Every time you think things are going one way, they go another—and I mean that in a good way. It’s easy to make a horror film with a series of illogical twists for the sake of illogical twists; it’s not so easy to make one that manages to be both surprising and convincing. Kevin Smith achieves that with Red State.

Watch it. Now. I’ll wait here until you’re done. After all, it’s on Netflix.

45 notes 6 months ago
#reviews    #red state    #view askew    
  1. bbrigola reblogged this from horrorfixxx
  2. strangertothelight reblogged this from horrorfixxx
  3. tru-dat said: decent movie. was hoping for more.
  4. plugsandpearls reblogged this from supbreaux and added:
    Chad and I watched it a couple of weeks ago and it was awesome!!!!!!!!
  5. wheatthin reblogged this from supbreaux
  6. whiskeyandwaves said: One of the best movies I have seen in a long time. Simply amazing. I too waited forever to see it. The day that it came out I bought, and was not disappointed. People need to WATCH IT NOW!
  7. sugarazor reblogged this from horrorfixxx
  8. supbreaux reblogged this from horrorfixxx
  9. keep-calm-and-buy-a-dog reblogged this from horrorfixxx
  10. fifteenthirtysevenpaperstreet reblogged this from horrorfixxx and added:
    have been recommending this movie since...September. There
  11. sporkcantsleep said: Saw it on the Red State Tour when it came to New Orleans back in March - that evening was the most fun I’ve had in a movie theatre in just about forever.
  12. lepetite-mort reblogged this from horrorfixxx
  13. horrorfixxx posted this