With elements of horror and ham-fisted social allegory, Kevin Smith’s Red State has a lofty set of goals that go unreached.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Mar 8, 2023

Red State is one of Kevin Smith's best and smartest films, as well as his most nihilistic.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 26, 2021

A disappointing film with a script that is too basic for any kind of social commentary Kevin Smith may have been aiming for.

| Feb 28, 2019

Once inside the compound, "Red State" starts to take shape as it settles into the rhythm of a siege thriller

| Jan 9, 2019

The writer/director known for being a premiere comedy auteur has made a gritty horror/thriller satire that defies convention.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 1, 2018

Red State's second half is a gripping and relentless 70s-inflected exploitation B-movie, giving us exciting ultraviolence alongside intriguing debates -- one admires the ambition.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 1, 2018

Smith has proven he can create a dark, intense film that is riveting and raw, and unabashed in its examination of the serious threat of the religious right in America.

| May 14, 2018

Phenomenal

| Original Score: 5/5 | May 25, 2014

Smith's greatest failure with Red State is that he will provide Fred Phelps with an even bigger ego to go along with the boosted Google alerts he is bound to receive.

| Sep 8, 2013

The acting in this film is excellent, especially by Parks and by Academy Award winner Melissa Leo, who plays Sarah Cooper, another gun-toting true believer in the church. John Goodman also is very good as an ATF agent.

| Original Score: C+ | Aug 23, 2013

Kevin Smith breaks with his lo-fi comedy tradition to deliver a horror story with themes of sex, religion and politics.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 4, 2013

The characters are one-dimensional, the plot is a shambles and the preaching gets so tedious you'll be praying yourself for divine intervention.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 25, 2012

It's an often-funny, sometimes precious, but always kind-of-scary little flick worth a note. If this was Smith's first film, he would be touted as a new talent to watch out for.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 25, 2012

A flat, talky, derivative "horror" film that's not very controversial despite how much it thinks it is.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Jan 29, 2012

Taking equal opportunity swipes at Christian fundamentalist bigots and the US government, Kevin Smith's subversively satirical movie keeps its audience continually off balance.

| Jan 25, 2012

One of the best white trash horror films in recent memory.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 7, 2012

Calculated to outrage and executed to underwhelm, Kevin Smith's Red State is like a dull blade slashing wildly, predictably and ineffectually at its target.

| Dec 13, 2011

Full of controversial subjects and interesting characters, it's the story that ultimately fails.

| Original Score: 1.5/4.0 | Nov 27, 2011

If his performance were contained in some other film, a so-called 'serious' movie about religion and politics, for example, Michael Parks would be discussed as an Academy Awards contender.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 17, 2011

'Red State' is full of many 'almosts' - it's almost action, almost horror, almost groundbreaking and almost excellent.

| Original Score: B | Oct 28, 2011