‎Red State (2011) directed by Kevin Smith • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Red State

2011 Directed by Kevin Smith

Fear God.

Set in Middle America, a group of teens receive an online invitation for sex, though they soon encounter Christian fundamentalists with a much more sinister agenda.

Michael Parks John Goodman Melissa Leo Michael Angarano Kyle Gallner Nicholas Braun Kerry Bishé Stephen Root Matt Jones Kevin Alejandro Ralph Garman Anna Gunn Kevin Pollak Betty Aberlin Jennifer Schwalbach Smith Patrick Fischler Damian Young David Marciano Kaylee DeFer Ronnie Connell Alexa Nikolas Cooper Thornton James Parks Haley Ramm Elizabeth Tripp Molly Livingston John Lacy Catherine McCord Deborah Aquila Show All…

88 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Silent J ★★★

In the first half, this was a movie about Jesus.

In the second, Jesus just shit himself.
Review by Arielrocks5 ★★★½ 3

I'm a fan of Smith as a director from what I've seen of his work thus far and I was curious how his first attempt at handling the horror genre would be like.

It's fairly competent on the technical side of things with some impressive sequences (the scenes set indoors are incredibly well handled) and some disturbing imagery, but Smith doesn't seem to have enough (no pun intended) faith in himself to go through with it all.

Sorta goes the way of turning it into a religious gun nut shoot out movie with John Goodman by the second half. Normally this would piss me off, but it's still well handled enough to the point where I can say I was…
Review by 𝕸𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖓𝖓𝖆 𝕹𝖊𝖆𝖑 ★★ 4

Kevin Smith and I... we just don't get along when it comes to horror. Though I don't even know if this counts as horror. It's more of a teen shenanigans comedy that turns into a really violent action shaky cam film, but then the ending is like "you know what? Screw the rest of this, we'll just troll you here" because the movie wants to pretend it's being clever. It's not.
Review by Evan ★★½ 3

Film #8 of Hoop-Tober.

I'm really not sure what to think of Kevin Smith's film Red State. I sort of hated it and I sort of liked it at the same time. I'll just settle for 2.5 stars. It was okay, I guess?
Review by Simon Ramshaw ★★★★ 5

"You said this was going to be a simple in-and-out, sir. Simple just shit itself." - Joe Keenan

There's something about this film that hopelessly endearing. It's like a baby being birthed into the world; confused, lost, messy and gory from all of the afterbirth that's come after it, but ever so lovable. You think that's a weird analogy? Red State is a weird film.

Beginning as an immature and unfunny teen comedy, turning into a religious torture-porn movie, then twisting itself into a siege movie and ending a religious satire that leaves a massive grin plastered across your face at the end of a relatively short 80 minutes, it's probably one of the most schizophrenic movies of all time.…
Review by Steve G ★

Stevil Intentions – The 2010s Horror Month

Well this isn't a horror film at all, is it? In fact, it's barely a film.

It's fucking crap, I'll say that. But because it's not a horror I guess I can't get too mad that it's another slab of turd that I've lumbered myself with during this largely disastrous project, where every decent film I've watched has been greeted by me like I've just been given the all-clear from recovering from a terminal disease.

I'm NOT a Kevin Smith hater. I liked Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma and Clerks 2, so let's just brush that under the carpet right away. Plus I don't follow him on social media and I don't really know what…

Recent reviews

Review by 𝕸𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖓𝖓𝖆 𝕹𝖊𝖆𝖑 ★★ 4

Kevin Smith and I... we just don't get along when it comes to horror. Though I don't even know if this counts as horror. It's more of a teen shenanigans comedy that turns into a really violent action shaky cam film, but then the ending is like "you know what? Screw the rest of this, we'll just troll you here" because the movie wants to pretend it's being clever. It's not.
Review by Faye Hopper ½

i literally screamed “fuck you Kevin Smith” at the ending if that’s not an indicator of the quality of this thing idk what is
Review by Sam McMahon

Whole lot of talking in this. It’s quite entertaining and Michael Parks is a creep. The cinematography is atrocious. John Goodman is still my number 1.
Review by jnorton1993 ★★★½

Pretty good
Review by Cris Kamurai ★★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

#BadMovieClub Review: Red State
Format: Live Action
Applicable Settings: Modern
Applicable Genres: Action, Horror

Hit or Skip: Hit!
By far, the best Kevin Smith movie.

General:

Aesthetics: 90
The delivery of dialogue, the atmosphere, the angle of the shots, whether during “sermon” or action are all spot on. Even the jarring wrap-up at the end of the movie is well structured for 3 guys talking.

Storyline: 88
This is a crazy plot that gets you questioning life, religion and morality. If you’re in the mindset to think about such things, then this provokes that fairly well.

Character Development: 88
There’s an overlying question of morality on both sides: the preacher and his family as well as the ATF contemplating their…
Review by Daniel Nicoletti ★★★

This is a Kevin Smith movie? Genre bending that works about 50% of the time. The guy they got to play the pastor was good. Some cool gore and a plot that gets you invested quick but looses you at the last third.
Kevin Smith know how to write dialogue, some great dialogue, but little else.
The budget makes it so it looks like it was shot as a really nice TV show, not a movie.
Watch If you like Kevin Smith or you stumble upon it somehow. Entertaining. An ok flick.
Review by Sarah ½

i watched this because i though tusk was sorta neat but this is just a crappy nonsense movie for people who want to feel good about themselves for having the moral highground over christian right extremists
Review by Jeff Rollins ★★★★

HOW. FREAKING. TIMELY.

I had heard mixed reviews from this very against-type Kevin Smith gem. I'm so glad I finally gave it a shot. It's DARK and disturbing as hell. The performances are top notch. The story is so relevant to our current political climate. Check this one out.
Review by Henry_Bonkers ★★

The funniest thing about Kevin Smith is that I’m kind of a fan of him despite not ever liking any of his work. Like, at all. It’s abysmally unfunny. This one starts out like you’re thinking this might actually be good but by the end you know the truth. It’s still his best movie.