Kevin Smith's horror thriller has more to admire about it than to like. The end result of his first venture into the genre highlights his weaknesses and his strengths. Thematically the film is written wonderfully with solid dialogue. But when it comes to pacing, which is so crucial to the genre he is working in, he gets murdered.
In the long tradition of horror films, three horny high school boys venture out to have sex. They've found Sara (Melissa Leo, FROZEN RIVER) on the Internet and she is willing to have sex with them all. This however is just a trap. She is a member of the church run by radical preacher Abin Cooper (Michael Parks, KILL BILL), who believes it is his calling from God to kill all sinners.
For his religious cult Smith draws on the real life Fred Phelphs and his Westboro Baptist hate mongers who protest funerals. For the ATF response, he takes a page from David Koresh and the Waco disaster where government mishandling leads to babies being burnt alive. In the film, the ATF agents are led by Joseph Keenan (John Goodman, TV's ROSEANNE), a man with faith who wants to do what is right, but is trapped between two difficult choices.
Smith has brought together a great cast. Parks fills Abin with a traveling preacher swagger. When he preaches he is convinced of every vile thing he spews "backing it up" with hand picked scripture and real world events. The typhoon in Thailand was due to sex tourism, etc. Goodman makes Agent Keenan, a journeyman. He just wants to do his job, he's not looking to be a hero... or a patsy. When he gets a controversial command, he demands a text of it first just to cover his butt.
Leo is the true believer, who would follow Cooper into the flames of hell. She has raised her family in his church, but a rift forms with her daughter Cheyenne (Kerry Bishe, TV's SCRUBS), who doesn't feel it is right to let the young children die. Travis (Michael Angarano, SKY HIGH), Billy Ray (Nicholas Braun, SKY HIGH) and Jarod (Kyle Gallner, JENNIFER'S BODY) are the helpless captives of the zealots. They'll find themselves in a situation where their would be saviors become just as dangerous as their kidnappers. Sheriff Wynan (Stephen Root, OFFICE SPACE) is the local sheriff who is a tormented closeted homosexual with a wife.
The set up works, but it starts to unravel when Parks makes his big appearance. His lengthy soliloquy is not poorly written by any stretch, but its sheer length brings the film to a halt when the tension should be on the rise. Taking one's time could have built dread, but Smith focuses on Cooper and not their captives. Jarod simply has to sit there and listen. Cooper's speech is scary in the sense that people can twist religion to believe in awful things, but it's not scary in the horror movie sense at all.
Smith develops most of his story threads nicely, accept for the crucial thread. The three boys become secondary characters or are forgotten for such long period of time we forget they're still alive. These are the characters we're supposed to care about, but they often become punchlines. They get lost in the grander ideas Smith is more interested in.
Smith finds an unconventional ending, but it feels like a cop out worse than a deus ex mechina. If Parks big speech can be forgiven as character development, Keenan's big speech is sinful in how it robs the film of the visceral ending that is needed.
Smith borrows some visual style from the horror genre, but his signature flat look sneaks in just so you know it's him. But he should have borrowed more than just gritty visuals. Pacing is so critical to building tension and tension is something this film has little of. Smith's chatty style is fine for pop culture infused comedies, but it doesn't build fear.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
