Good news for Kevin Smith fans and horror fans a like, a blurb over at Rottentomatoes.com states that the CLERKS director will be trying his hand at horror. This is also good news for ex-fans of his who are tired of the same stuff he’s been putting out there the last few years.
Not much has been divulged involving the film, but apparently Smith will be going for a film with less humor. So say goodbye to those classic dick and fart jokes that seem to go so well with Smith’s stylized dialogue. But what has come out in terms of his attempt at the horror genre is that the film will be titled RED STATE.
And even some details about the plot have come out. According to the Rottentomatoes.com article, the plot seems to be inspired by the controversial church group in Kansas that has picketed the funerals of soldiers who were killed in Iraq and have become infamous for their extreme homophobic stance. The group, which uses the media to gain exposure, is led by a guy by the name of Fred Phelps, and at a recent Q&A session in England, Smith had this to say about Phelps: " That dude has always fascinated me and he’s really informed the horror movie that I’m working on,” Smith says, “The movie’s called ‘Red State’ and it’s very much about that subject matter, that point of view and that position taken to the absolute extreme. It’s certainly not Phelps himself but it’s very much inspired by a Phelps figure."
Not exactly the typical plot for a horror film, right? Well Smith already took this into consideration. "To me there’s all kinds of horror, and killing someone’s not the absolute worst thing you could do to another human being,” he said, “The death in a horror movie has always been the money shot in a very exploitative manner. Stabbing somebody and splashing blood all over them is the equivalent to some dude exploding over some broad’s face. "
"And to me, too, the notion of using a Phelps-like character as a villain, as horrifying and scary as that guy can be, there’s even something more insidious than him that lurks out there in as much as a public or a government that allows it and that’s the other thing that I’m trying to examine in a big, big way. It’s weird because for a few months I’ve been saying ‘horror movie’ and technically it is, but it’s also not a very traditional horror movie in the sense that people have been asking me, ‘Is it a slasher movie? Is it like the Japanese horror flicks?’ It’d be much easier to just show it to them when I’m done and be like, ‘This is what I meant.’ At which point I’m sure there’ll be people saying, ‘This ain’t a horror movie!’ But to me, it is. "
As of now, Smith is planning on writing the script in the next few months and shooting the film later this year.