It was with what can only be described as tenuous optimism that I sat down to watch Kevin Smith’s new film Red State.

You see, I am a Kevin Smith fan, to be sure.  I dressed like Dante from Clerks 2 for Halloween last year. I quote Dogma and Mallrats more often than a normal human should.  I even managed to see the Clerks cartoon on broadcast television in its mayfly-lifespan window of existence. But Kevin Smith has had an…interesting run the last few years. Zack and Miri Make a Porno underperformed at the box office, and Cop Out was eviscerated by critics and fans alike. Where once was an unwavering faith in Kevin Smith’s abilities, now germinated seeds of doubt. Then there was that little run-in with Southwest Airlines, after which we had some barbed words for Mr. Smith on this very site. Over this same span of time, however, he has turned his hilarious podcast ‘Smodcast’, from an every-now-and-again recorded chat with producer/pal Scott Mosier into a multi-person, multi-podcast daily mini-empire. So it’s been an eclectic phase of his career, to say the least. Hence, my apprehension.

His new film Red State is Smith’s first foray into the horror genre, and he has taken it upon himself to release it entirely independently. The film itself comes out in October 2011, but to generate buzz Smith has taken the film on the road for screenings across America, coupled with a Q&A with the man himself.

It’s been a few weeks since I saw Red State at the Harris Theater in Chicago. Plenty of time to let it stew. And now I can say in all confidence:

That was a pretty damn good flick.

Red State takes place in a town plagued with a group of hateful homophobic religious fanatics not unlike our own dear Westboro Baptist church. Following the irresistible lure of promised poon-tang, a trio of young men fall unwittingly into the church’s murderous trap for lustful sinners, all the while an ATF squad closes in.  It is entirely unlike any previous Kevin Smith films. The Kevin Smith wit and clever dialogue is there, to be sure, but the film’s style is far more Texas Chainsaw Massacre than Mallrats. It probably wouldn’t be fair to say the film is ‘scary’, at least, not in the way Poltergeist is. It’s far more accurate to say it’s ‘creepy as fuck’, if only because unlike ghosts and demons and possessed Japanese VHS tapes, we know that people like the Phelpsian fuckholes in Red State ACTUALLY EXIST.  This homage to reality is driven home even more by the complete lack of a score…the only music you hear in the film (aside from a few bits of tunes caught on the radio) are the wispy hymns sung by Michael Parks, hymns which would probably seem tedious and boring warbled by your grandmother, but delivered as they are in Red State they become downright sinister.

The film was made on 4 million dollars…not exactly a ‘shoestring’ budget, per se, but maybe a ‘pair of converse’ budget. Smith admitted he did run into budgetary constraints in the filming and had to adapt, but the film doesn’t suffer for it. The acting is all solid as well, if they create a category in the Academy Awards this year for ‘Best Job of Looking Soul-Crushed and World-Weary in Damn Near Every Scene’,  John Goodman is the front runner.  The members of the congregation play their warped morality believably, and Michael Parks chews so damn much scenery he should be wearing a bib. That’s not to say the movie is without fault, however.  There are some pacing issues, scenes which desperately need to be tightened up, and clunky dialogue which should be cut. Smith is editing the film entirely himself, and shows skill in transition and scene manipulation, but needs to be a little more aggressive with the chopping.  This film tour is no doubt serving as test screening as well, so I imagine the film will have changed a bit upon release.

The Q&A that followed was entertaining, if a bit brief. There were a few questions about Red State, more about the technology of making it than technique. More questions seemed to be about what Smith has planned for the future. He has announced that after his next film, Hit Somebody, he will be retiring from directing to work on other projects, such as developing Smodcast into internet radio, and to pursue avenues in television.  I can’t begrudge Smith for the Q&A’s content though, as he can only answer what he’s been asked. As always, Smith was accommodating and funny, and eternally grateful to his fans.

Red State is visceral, clever, and merciless, and hits a theater near you in October.