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Updates on Kevin Smith's Horror Film Red State

by Alex Billington
September 12, 2008
Source: STYD, MTV

Kevin Smith has been in the news quite a bit recently, primarily because his latest comedy (Zack and Miri) is due out within the next few months, but as always, we're already thinking about his next film. The last we heard of Red State was in April, where Smith revealed some early details on his horror film that's about a group of misfits who encounter religious fundamentalists in the heart of the country. Now two new updates from the man himself have hit, one from STYD, the other from MTV, that shed a bit more light on the project. Not only is the film still searching for funding, but apparently it's going to be such a huge departure from Smith's previous work, that he wants people to "flat out not believe that I made it."

Smith told STYD in an interview recently that they're still looking for cash because "it's not a really commercial film at all. It's very bleak and very dark, and there's no one to root for in the movie, so it's a real film festival type of film, but it's not the kind of movie you can take into multiplexes and do a bunch of business with." The script is done and ready to go and they're only looking for about $5 million to shoot it in the Midwest with a bunch of unknowns. If you're still confused what exactly this is about, and why it's not very commercial, here's another tidbit from Smith. "It is definitely a 180 from everything else we've done including Zack and Miri but at the same time, it's not like a splatter film, it's not like slasher balls-to-the-wall gore, it's more unsettling and disturbing type of horror."

In a separate interview with MTV, Smith said that "the dream would be to have people watch the movie and flat out not believe that I made it. To pull that off would be cool." As hilarious as Zack and Miri was, Smith wants to challenge himself with Red State in order to prove he's not just a one-genre-wonder. "I'm interested in doing it to see if I am a filmmaker after all." he confessed. "If I can pull it off in another genre maybe I am a filmmaker. If it fails then I'm a dick and fart joke guy and I should stick to that." Smith adds that "there are no laughs in it. It's straight forward, creepy, unsettling horror. I'm aiming high. I'm aiming at the unsettling Rosemary's Baby kind of vibe. I also want to throw in a little of Race with the Devil which is one of my favorite scary flicks." Interesting horror inspirations, I must say.

Considering I'm a massive Kevin Smith fan, I'm obviously interested in seeing what he's planning to do with Red State. I'm not the biggest horror fan, but I'm always up for the occasional scare, especially when it's more psychological than gory. It's fun to juggle excitement in Smith's upcoming projects, considering we've got Zack and Miri due out in October, and Red State hopefully starting production by the end of the year. Even though it was way back in 1994 when Smith first burst into Hollywood with Clerks, he's still kicking ass even today. I hope Zack and Miri gives him the boost he needs to get the funding for Red State, because I definitely want to see it. Does Red State sound like a horror movie you'd see?

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