I had pretty much given up on Kevin Smith as a director. I thought his muse had left him. On a lark I decided to watch his movie "Red State" on VOD. It was described as a horror movie.

It wasn't a horror movie.

But it was one of his better movies since "Clerks" or "Chasing Amy". Smith has matured as a director and writer. I'm not saying this movie is Oscar material but it does have some Oscar winning performers in it like Melissa Leo. I was really surprised by how strong the story was. And at just under 90 minutes there's not much wasted here.

It is a take on what would happen if Fred Phelps, he of the "God hate homosexuals" fame, had decided to "start using the Second Amendment and not just the First" as one of the film's characters puts it.

Three horny high school kids (are there any other kind?) are surfing the net to find free sex. They come across a local solicitation from an older woman who agrees to service all three of the boys. Excited, the trio pile into one of their parent's cars and head off to the agreed destination. When they get there they are less than impressed with the looks and demeanor of the woman (Melissa Leo) but decide to go ahead with the plan. However Leo has plans of her own. The boys drink drugged beer and find themselves tied up in the basement of genially deranged preacher Abin Cooper (Michael Parks), Leo's father, who sends his followers out into the world to bring back homosexuals and fornicators for God's punishment. And God's punishment is more than just Bible reading. Parks does a good job with this role.

This film could have gone down the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" road at this point but it turns smartly to focus on ATF agent Joseph Keenan (John Goodman-when did he get so old??) who is called in by the sheriff to handle the situation. Keenan's supervisors are very wary of another Waco or Ruby Ridge(the media attention, not the killings) and give Keenan orders which will cause him and the audience to question just who the good guys are here.

Smith's writing is pretty good here-most of his trademark sarcasm and cynicism is muted-and he has some interesting questions to raise about religious fundamentalism AND the incredible-if not excessive power of the Federal government.

Kevin Pollak, Stephen Root, Michael Angarano and Kerry Bishe also star. I thought this was worth checking out.

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.