Kevin Smith takes on minister Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps

Funny man Kevin Smith has been on the scene for a long time now and has gained many, many fans with his smart dialogue and brilliant humor. But now it seems the mastermind behind CLERKS and MALLRATS has decided to take on a different genre, horror.

His new movie, entitle RED STATE, follows extreme Baptist Minister, Fred Phelps, who is best known for his hatred of homosexuals and the Iraq war. The folks over at Rotten Tomatoes talked to Smith who had this to say:

“That dude has always fascinated me and he’s really informed the horror movie that I’m working on,” Smith told us, “The movie’s called ‘Red State’ and it’s very much about that subject matter, that point of view and that position taken to the absolute extreme. It’s certainly not Phelps himself but it’s very much inspired by a Phelps figure.”

But while Smith is convinced that “horror” is the right definition for the film, he’s not so sure audiences will agree. “To me there’s all kinds of horror, and killing someone’s not the absolute worst thing you could do to another human being,” he said, “The death in a horror movie has always been the money shot in a very exploitative manner. Stabbing somebody and splashing blood all over them is the equivalent to some dude exploding over some broad’s face.

“And to me, too, the notion of using a Phelps-like character as a villain, as horrifying and scary as that guy can be, there’s even something more insidious than him that lurks out there in as much as a public or a government that allows it and that’s the other thing that I’m trying to examine in a big, big way. It’s weird because for a few months I’ve been saying ‘horror movie’ and technically it is, but it’s also not a very traditional horror movie in the sense that people have been asking me, ‘Is it a slasher movie? Is it like the Japanese horror flicks?’ It’d be much easier to just show it to them when I’m done and be like, ‘This is what I meant.’ At which point I’m sure there’ll be people saying, ‘This ain’t a horror movie!’ But to me, it is.”