Red State

Who knew? After directing the worst movie of his career, the lame action comedy Cop Out, Kevin Smith has made what is arguably his best film, Red State. It’s the story of a religious cult in ‘middle America’ whose violent anti-gay agenda is being used as a cause to kill. Three young locals boys, lured into the promise of a menage a trois with a woman through an Internet ad placed by the cult, are kidnapped and sentenced to be executed because more than one man in a sexual act with a woman makes him a homosexual, according to cult doctrine. When the kidnapping is exposed, the local cops, followed by the FBI and DEA, descend on the cult compound with disastrous results. With the exception of the dialogue between the boys before they get kidnapped, the script has virtually none of Smith’s trademark humor; in fact, it’s pretty bleak, but still powerfully directed. The action scenes are taut and tension filled, and the ending will leave you stunned.