Every Kevin Smith Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

8. Red State (2011)

In the immediate aftermath of the Cop Out disaster, Kevin Smith famously turned particularly sour on film critics, threatening to charge them for early access to his films and then went full Jerry Maguire, self-distributing Red State while biting his thumb at critics and distributors.

All of the controversies behind the scenes would have been absolutely fine too, if Smith's first "straight" horror film had actually been great. As it is, it was passably entertaining - not his worst work by any means, but certainly not up there with his best. In retrospect, it feels like Smith's attempt to reclaim his film-maker title having taken some cheap shots for Cop Out, but even the most charitable Smith fan will concede that he doesn't have the skills to make a straight horror movie.

In place of the required technical flair, he instead injects his script with steroids and attempts to smash through concerns that Red State isn't the horror he claims with sheer force of words. It's not scary, it's not artful and it's just not a horror.