10 Horror Movies Probably Made Out Of Spite
9. Red State
The whole production of Kevin Smith's Red State was dripping in spite.
First up, the movie was Smith carving up a serious picture clearly designed as a middle finger to those critics and naysayers who'd spent years slamming the filmmaker for falling back on d**k and fart jokes too often. With Red State, the chuckles and toilet humour were replaced with dread and tension.
One other way in which Red State was made out of spite comes down to the funding of the film. When Bob and Harvey Weinstein - who had financed seven of Smith's nine prior features - refused to fund Red State, Smith dug his heels in and decided to push forward with the movie using alternative backing.
Of course, Red State also was clearly made to spite infamous pastor Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church hate group. In Michael Parks' Abin Cooper, Smith gave audiences a figure modelled in the image of Phelps, with Cooper leading the charge of the crazed, extremist Five Points Trinity Church.
As is ever the case with the Westboro nuts, they obviously protested Red State's release and picketed screenings of the film. In regards to the critics, they were largely split on Red State - with some lamenting Smith for trying too hard to deliver something different to his usual wheelhouse.