FILM

USA 2011 88 mins Dir: Kevin Smith Starring: Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, John Goodman

Apparently stung by criticism that he can't actually direct, Kevin Smith recently announced he's retiring from film-making after his next project. Of course, it's always possible that this is just part of the huckstering for 'Red State', which he self-distributed in the US. Certainly, all his directorial weaknesses are on display here, notably the long, talky expositional scenes that drain all tension from what is billed as a horror film. But while the tone is all over the shop and the subject matter makes shooting fish in a barrel seem like Olympic archery, there is fun to be had in the film's scattershot cynicism towards church and state. Michael Parks has a great turn as a folksy, grandfatherly, fundamentalist zealot, while John Goodman is on fine form as his gum-chewing, conscience-stricken ATF nemesis.

It begins like a teen sex comedy with a trio of adolescent horndogs lured by a hot MILF (Leo) for group sex in a trailer in the woods. Instead, they find themselves drugged and held captive in the compound of the heavily armed Five Points Church headed by fag-hating preacher Abin Cooper (Oarks), whose congregation pickets the funerals of homosexuals. If this reminds you of anyone, the film is careful to point out, presumably for legal reasons, that the Phelps family of the Westboro Baptist Church are an entirely different bunch of bigots. While the teens are tied to crosses awaiting execution for their sins, the ATF surround the compound. Agent Keenan is instructed to avoid another Waco, even if that means slaughtering children. Rather ironically, it all gets a tad preachy in places but there are some nice touches, such as Parks being so right-wing that even neo-Nazi groups distance themselves from him. (Robin Askew)

website http://coopersdell.com/

Opens: September 30

Copyright Robin Askew 2011