History Film / RedState

* EvenEvilHasStandards: A couple of the ATF agents mention that Neo-Nazis were disturbed by Cooper’s vile hatred and that they won’t NOTHING to do with him.

Writer/director Creator/KevinSmith's first foray into {{horror}}. After the disappointment of his last big studio film ''CopOut'', Smith decided to finally shoot the script he had written years ago during the shooting of ''Film/ZackAndMiriMakeAPorno'' for the smallest budget he's had since ''Film/ChasingAmy''. Stars a few familiar faces and features a few more heavy weight issues than Smith's previous work.

* TheHeretic: How actual RealLife Christians view the hate-spewing Coopers.

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:All three of the initial protagonists, and Cooper's sympathetic daughter Cheyenne.]]

* BadassPreacher: Pastor Abin Cooper, also a SinisterMinister who executes 'sinners' and 'sodomites', is a trained domestic terrorist. He joins the rest of his church during their shoot-out with the ATF, firing a lever action rifle at the agents to hold off the prolongued siege.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Unlike other Kevin Smith films that usually had heart and was usually somewhere in the middle of the scale, ''Red State'' is just pure cynicism.

* [[HaveIMentionedImHeterosexualToday Have I Begged For My Life By Screaming That I'm Heterosexual Today?]]: After being captured by the FPT Church, the boys scream that they're not gay, assuming that that's the only reason the Chruch wants to kill them, in the hopes that they'll be let go.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: With the exception of the ATF, everyone else is varying degrees of moral. Keenan and his men are just trying to do their job to take out what is, for all intents and purposes, a terrorist cell and save the hostages. Unfortunately, they have no way of knowing exactly who's a hostage, which means all three of them are gunned down regardless. Even the three boys, while not outwardly cruel, are clearly sleazy.

* KickedUpstairs: [[spoiler:Agent Keenan, to D.C.]]

* {{Blackmail}}: Cooper tells the closeted gay sheriff not to send any backup or he'll send certain unwholesome pictures to his wife. He ends up [[TakeAThirdOption taking a third option]] by calling in the ATF.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The class discussion is pretty much all foreshadowing, especially the ending snippet...
--> '''Teacher''': And what is the Second Amendment?
--> '''Student''': (''in a very pleased tone'') We get guns...
** As well as when the main trio is talking about how one of the women on the website they're looking at is located in Cooper's Dell. Guess where the Five Points Trinity Church is located?

* GenreShift: This movie has it in spades. It goes from a raunchy comedy, to a ''{{Hostel}}''-style thriller, to a hostage/siege-type movie with a bit of action/shoot-em-up thrown in.

* CruelMercy: At the end of the film, [[spoiler:Keenan's superiors point out that they don't have to kill Cooper to keep him quiet. Instead they'll lock him away in a federal prison forever under the pretext of terrorism, where there is a high chance he'll be raped by the homosexuals he despises so much.]]

* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler:We barely find out anything about Billy Ray, Travis and Jarod except that they would have sex even with unknown women. The real protagonist turns out to be Joseph Keenan or Abin Cooper]].

* EvilVsEvil: The Five Points Trinity Church is killing gays and promiscuous teens out of religious mania. Then the ATF shows up, decides they are ''all'' terrorists and decides to murder every single parishioner, including the children.

* HopeSpot: When Travis makes his daring escape, he manages to make it out and you really think he's going to get away...[[spoiler: only for him to get shot by the sheriff who has joined the ATF who have surrounded the church]].

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The cult compound, violence and the actions of the ATF are similar to David Koresh and the Branch Dividian Compound tragedy from the early 90's.

* WriterOnBoard: An interesting case. While it's certainly a straight example, WordOfGod is that Kevin Smith considers ''Red State'''s religious and sexual politics to have been misstep, as they caused viewers to put [[OvershadowedByControversy too much focus on the those aspects]] rather than taking the film on its own merits. His next attempt at horror, ''Film/{{Tusk}}'', has no political influences at all.

Writer/director Creator/KevinSmith's first foray into {{horror}}. After the disappointment of his last big studio film ''CopOut'', Smith decided to finally shoot the script he had written years ago during the shooting of ''Film/ZackAndMiriMakeAPorno'' for the smallest budget he's had since ''Film/ChasingAmy''. Stars [[HeyItsThatGuy a few familiar faces]] and features a few more heavy weight issues than Smith's previous work.

* IronyAsSheIsCast: LA radio DJ Ralph Garmin plays a mute.

* BadassPreacher: Pastor Abin Cooper, also a SinisterMinister who executes 'sinners' and 'sodomites', is a trained domestic terrorist. He joins the rest of his church during their shoot-out with the ATF, firing an assault rifle at the agents to hold off the prolongued siege.

* EasterEgg: Five Points Trinity, hunh? More like [[ViewAskewniverse Five Part Trilogy]].

* TakeThat: Towards the Westborough Baptist Church. The plot is more or less "What if the WBC actually hurt people and weren't just annoying?"

Writer/director KevinSmith's first foray into {{horror}}. After the disappointment of his last big studio film ''CopOut'', Smith decided to finally shoot the script he had written years ago during the shooting of ''Film/ZackAndMiriMakeAPorno'' for the smallest budget he's had since ''Film/ChasingAmy''. Stars [[HeyItsThatGuy a few familiar faces]] and features a few more heavy weight issues than Smith's previous work.

* ElegantWeaponForAMoreCivilizedAge: While everyone else in the Five Points Trinity Church uses some kind of [[MoreDakka modern assault rifle]], Cooper (who's clearly older than almost every other member) sticks with a nice bolt action hunting rifle.

* BadassPreacher: Cooper likes to think he (and his father and grandfather) are this when, in fact, he's a SinisterMinister.

->''"Fear God? You better believe I fear God."''

The film starts with three teens attempting to procure sex from a woman who lives in the outskirts of their southern town. Things don't result in quite that much sex however, as the boys end up being kidnapped by the local extreme fundamentalist Christian Five Points Trinity Church, situated in nearby Cooper's Dell. From there, it's all bloodshed, artillery and some transitions between the characters it focuses on.

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler: All three of the initial protagonists, and sympathetic Cooper daughter Cheyenne.]]
* {{Blackmail}}: Abin Cooper tells the closeted gay sheriff not to send any backup or he'll send certain unwholesome pictures to his wife. He ends up [[TakeAThirdOption taking a third option]] by calling in the ATF.
* AllGaysArePromiscuous: The Five Points Trinity Church seems to hold this belief with the way Abin Cooper preaches about them.

* BadassPreacher: Abin likes to think he (and his father and grandfather) are this, when in fact he's a SinisterMinister.
* BitterSweetEnding: [[spoiler: Sure, every member of the Five Trinity's Church is arrested or killed, but the main trio are all dead as well as the only redeemable Cooper family member, Cheyenne.]]
* BlackAndBlackMorality: Sure, what the Five Points Trinity Church is doing is sure as hell wrong and immoral, but deciding to execute every last one of them, including the children, just to save face is a really screwed up thing to do on the ATF's part.
* BoomHeadShot!: Abin Cooper manages to pull this on Agent Brooks. Doubles as an EyeScream too!
* BulletHolesAndRevelations: Happens between [[spoiler: Sarah and her daughter Cheyenne. Sarah loses.]]

* CrazyPrepared: The Five Points Trinity Church is this to an extent. After some people set off an IED in their yard, they build a wall around their church AKA, "The Great Wall of Bullshit", set up security cameras on their property as well as a electric locking gate (although, it is waist high) and stock up on high-powered guns which they have modified to be automatic. Also, they [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking don't allow anybody but family members in their church.]]
* CreatorCameo: Pretty hard to catch on the first viewing, but Smith is [[spoiler: the voice of the off camera prisoner who tells the Abin Cooper, "Shut the fuck up!" as he rambles in his cell.]]

--> "''Teacher: And what is the Second Amendment?''"
--> "''Student: (in a very pleased tone) We get guns...''"
** As well when the main trio is talking about how one of the women on the website they're looking at is located in Cooper's Dell. Guess where the Five Points Trinity Church is located?
* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler: We barely find out anything about Billy Ray, Travis and Jarod except that they would do have sex even with unknown women. The real protagonist turns out to be Joseph Keenan or Abin Cooper]].
* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: Exactly 13 minutes, 12 seconds before the horror starts. Most of it is getting to the incident, and establishing the sheriff and Cooper.

* ElegantWeaponForAMoreCivilizedAge: While everyone else in the Five Points Trinity Church uses some kind of [[MoreDakka modern assault rifle]], Abin Cooper (who's clearly older than almost every other member) sticks with a nice bolt action hunting rifle.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Aside from their homicidal [[TheFundamentalist religious extremism]], the Coopers are just one big, happy southern family, and Cheyenne risks her life trying to get the little ones to safety.
* {{Expy}}: Subverted. Initially, it seems like the Five Points Church is an Expy for the Westboro Baptist Church, but close to the end of the movie, the actual WBC is mentioned, as a way of emphasizing exactly how dangerous Five Points is.

* GenreShift: This movie has it in spades. It goes from a raunchy comedy, to a Hostel-style thriller, to a hostage/siege-type movie with a bit of action/shoot-em-up thrown in.
* GiveMeASign: Played straight, then subverted and lampshaded.
* AGoodWayToDie: Abin Cooper certainly believes [[SuicideByCop dying fighting government enforcers]] (of a government willing to tolerate homosexuals) is one, and he has most of his family convinced of that too.
* HalfwayPlotSwitch: Goes with the GenreShift, obviously. The first half of the movie is about Travis, Jared and Billy Ray trying to flee from the Coopers' compound. Then [[spoiler: Travis gets shot by the Sheriff. The second half of the movie is about Agent Keenan's team and the Coopers firing at each other, with Jared and Cheyenne caught in the middle]].

* HoneyTrap: The members of the Five Points Trinity church use this method (primarily via internet personals) to draw in "perverts" for them to purge.
* HopeSpot: When Travis makes his daring escape, he manages to make it out and you really think he's going to get away... [[spoiler: only for him to get shot by the sheriff who has joined the ATF who have surrounded the church.]]
* IdiotBall: When the deputy hears the shots fired from inside the church, he makes no effort to take cover while calling in back-up, despite having plenty of time to do so.
* InfantImmortality: Although Keenan's superiors wish to avert this, Cheyenne's actions (combined with a lot of dumb luck) manage to play it straight. [[spoiler: As long as you don't count the main trio and Cheyenne dying...]]
* IronyAsSheIsCast: LA radio DJ Ralph Garmin plays a mute

* MoeGreeneSpecial: [[spoiler: Happens to Agent Brooks]].
* MoralMyopia: Abin Cooper spells right out that he believes that the Biblical prohibition "thou shalt not kill" applies only to other members of the faith. However, no one outside his extended family is "faithful" enough for his standards.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The cult compound, violence, and the actions of the ATF are similar to David Koresh and the Branch Dividian Compound tragedy from the early 90's.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Agent Kennan describes subduing Abin Cooper with a headbutt, which we tragically do not get to see.
* OnlyAFleshWound: [[spoiler: Keenan (John Goodman)]] has some shrapnel skull fragmets tear into his thigh, but it doesn't give him more than the faintest limp.
* ThePatriarch: Abin Cooper is a villainous example of this archetype.

* PoliceBrutality: The ATF decides to cover up the Sheriff's accidental shooting by ''killing everyone in the house.''

* ReligiousHorror: The Five Points church members are partly inspired by Fred Phelps and his flock, though they go him one better and [[spoiler:lure "sinners" over the Internet and kill them]].
* RightWingMilitiaFanatic: The Coopers, overlapping with ChurchMilitant, above. [[UpToEleven So far to the right]], in fact, that [[EvenEvilHasStandards even]] the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName neo-Nazis]] think they're [[GoshDangItToHeck "nucking futs"]].
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Abin Cooper is sort of a mix of Fred Phelps and David Koresh; the climax explicitly recalls the Waco siege at the Branch Davidian compound.
* SinisterMinister: Abin Cooper, who also has a [[BeardOfEvil Beard of Evil]], plays this trope to the hilt.
* SuicideByCop: The Five Points Trinity Church seems pretty damned determined to pull this off once their cover as a "peaceful, but angry and protestant church" is blown and most of them are pretty successful.
* TheVoiceless: Caleb never speaks. He's portrayed ironically by Ralph Garmin, a radio DJ.