Trailer Debut: Red State

We knew Kevin Smith‘s religious thriller Red State would be a departure from his previous works. But we didn’t know it would be this much of a departure. The trailer for the pic has debuted online, and we can happily confirm that it’s scary, weird and deeply unsettling. Just like Cop Out!

To steal from the official plot synopsis:

Red State begins by following three horny high-school boys who come across an online ad from an older woman looking for a gang bang. Boys being boys, they hit the road to satisfy their libidinal urges. But what begins as a fantasy takes a dark turn as they come face-to-face with a terrifying ‘holy’ force with a fatal agenda.

Michael Parks stars as that “terrifying ‘holy’ force”. He is joined by John Goodman, Melissa Leo and Kerry Bishe.

Check out the trailer below – courtesy of Smodcast – and share your thoughts! (Warning: some swearing and violence).

It would be unreasonable to get too excited over a very brief teaser such as this (especially where you can’t really see what’s going on). Still, it looks mighty intriguing, and it’s nice to see Smith stretch himself.

The independently-financed $4 million feature has long been a labour of love for the writer/director. Here’s hoping it has the passion of his early films (and sadly absent from his recent studio endeavour Cop Out).

Red State will make its debut out of competition at Sundance, where the distribution rights will be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Discuss: Your thoughts on this teaser trailer?