Red State feels nothing like a Kevin Smith movie should. Which I suppose, in some ways, may be a good and a bad thing. A good thing because it shows he's not afraid to step outside of his comfort zone but a bad thing because, by this point in his career, the audience is expecting certain things from him. Let's lay this out on the table for you. This is not a horror movie, like all advance ads and even Smith himself has said, and it certainly doesn't contain a lot of the acerbic and often raunchy humour of his past works. There's nary any black comedy in sight and this is probably the most serious film in his resume.

What this is, is an attack on religion that runs parallels with what happened in Waco, Texas with David Koresh and his cult back in 1993 as well as taking aim at Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church. Smith has tread this anti-religious path before with Dogma but he's never done it with such a straight face.

Things start off on the usual Smith bent as a group of horny teenage boys decide to head off to a neighbouring county in order to have cheap sex with an older women they came across on an online hook-up site. They end up getting a lot more than they bargained for when it turns out she's one of the flock of Abin's (Michael Parks) extremely right-wing religious group, The Five Point Church, who are holed-up in a compound and convinced that homosexuality is the worst evil known to man and that God will soon be coming to take them away to a better place.

From here we witness Abin go on a lengthy rant about sin, see his congregation murder a man they've kidnapped and shrink-wrapped to a cross, and have our three teen victims try to escape. At the same time, they've called in ATF agent Keenan (John Goodman) to try and get the situation under control, only for it to explode into various shoot-outs before leading to the off-beat finale.

It's certainly difficult to peg a genre on Red State and it's understandable as to why Smith chose to self-distribute the film because it's the kind of flick that would struggle to find an audience otherwise. Taking into account the subject matter and fact this isn't really that conventional a story, this definitely isn't for everyone. It's one of the main things I commend Smith on, this complete 180 degrees turn from his past work. However, at the same time, I just don't think his script is strong enough to stand on its own two legs.

Granted, said script gets some decent support from the cast with Parks' loony spin as Abin quite satisfying for all his bluster and hymn singing mixed with complete ignorance. Recent Oscar winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter) also does well as the clan's main motherly figure and there's a bunch of familiar faces in the cast but nobody else really stood out to me.

As I said in the opening, this doesn't feel like a Kevin Smith film. There are some mild flashes every once-and-a-while but this generally comes across like a religious-themed thriller that could've been directed by almost anyone. It's the same impression I had watching his prior buddy cop comedy, Cop Out, because he has such a strong personality and his past efforts have such a recognizable vibe that both of the films felt too generic.

If you're wondering if you should check out Red State, you need to ask yourself a few questions: a) how big of a fan of Smith are you? b) how much anti-religion sentiment can you take?, and c) are you expecting a horror movie? If you're a long-time fan, aren't offended by "blasphemous" talk, and don't go in with certain expectations; then I'd say give it a look just to see Smith try something new - even if he doesn't completely succeed at it. (Chris Hartley, 9/30/11)

Directed By: Kevin Smith.
Written By: Kevin Smith.

Starring: John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Michael Parks, Kyle Gallner.