Red State (2011): written and directed by Kevin Smith; starring Michael Angarano (Travis), Nicholas Braun (Billy-Ray), Ronnie Connell (Randy), Stephen Root (Sheriff Wynan), Melissa Leo (Sara), Kerry Bishe (Cheyenne), Michael Parks (Abin Cooper), John Goodman (ATF Agent Keenan), and Kevin Pollak (ASAC Brooks):
Kevin Smith's bleak satire of sex, religion, and politics in America is one of his three or four best films. He's stripped the narrative of all sentimentality, which is simply my way of saying 'Don't get too attached to any of the characters!' This results in a lot of truly shocking moments, but one which does not celebrate or valorize violence or nihilism.
What you have are three randy teen-aged boys, bored with high school and life, and on the lookout for an easy hook-up via the Internet. You've got a virulently hateful local Christian church which spews hatred against pretty much everyone who isn't a member of the church. You've got the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms out for a big law-enforcement score. You've got corrupt, inept, and easily manipulated local law enforcement.
These ingredients make for a heady cocktail of horror and mayhem once they've been stirred.
Smith gets some fine performances out of his cast, especially John Goodman as an increasingly bewildered ATF agent, his good intentions destroyed at every turn by power-hungry superiors, inept local law enforcement, and junior agents following orders. Michael Parks of Twin Peaks plays the cult leader as a disarmingly charming, creepy monster of religious intolerance.
It's a funny movie at points, punctuated by sudden and awful violence. And even some of the violence becomes funny, at times because of its very suddenness and messiness. Hopefully Smith will make more movies like this -- it's a minor classic. Highly recommended.
Nightrunners (2016): written and directed by Rowan Nielsen; starring Grace Glowicki (Jessica), Mandi Nicholson (Isobel), Esther Asinga (Mama Achupa), Mary Etuku (Mama Esther), Christopher Oketch (Giggly), Sam Okudo (Chief), and Neville Misati (Michael):
This solid, low-budget film seems like it's going to be about some sort of monsters given the title and the first half-hour of set-up. But it goes off on an interesting tangent, without necessarily invalidating the idea that there are weird monsters out there, outside the camera's field of vision.
I will note that the film has nothing to do with Joe R. Lansdale's classic splatterpunk novel The Nightrunners.
Nightrunners follows two 20-something American women who've traveled to a remote Kenyan island to do charitable things and record them for a film project. The Kenyans are friendly. The women are accepted easily into the community. But they're told to never leave their compound at night. And at night, strange sounds and cries begin.
Then there's a mysterious death. And the woman who films everything starts to see things that don't show up on any camera. All this while her friend starts to forge close connections with the Kenyans, especially the affable Michael.
The film plays 'fair' throughout in straddling the line between 'real' and hallucinated events, between the supernatural and the delusional. It also offers a subtle critique of White People Bearing Gifts, culture shock, and the toll secrets can take on individuals, especially when they begin to surface without any conscious control.
And it manages some creepy moments in which the viewer (well, if the viewer is Caucasian) must question why one is creeped out in the first place. There's an interrogation of unconscious racism here, and quite an effective one. Recommended.
