‘Red State’ is a film from Kevin Smith (‘Zack and Miri Make a Porno’). This is a religious horror film inspired by fundamentalist preacher Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church out of Topeka, Kansas. This below trailer may be a bit disturbing.

RED STATE USA TOURWhen: 8:00pm, Tuesday, March 22Where: Paramount Theatre, 1521 Glenam Place, DenverAdmission: $27.50 to $32.50, two tickets minimum

Renowned indie film director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Zack and Miri Make a Porno) threw the media for a loop at this year’s Sundance Film Festival when instead of debuting his latest film Red State, he refused to screen it, instead going off on a rant about how the studios and distributors always screw over the little guy. Or, in Smith’s case, the big guy.

But the biggest surprise of the evening was yet to come. Smith went on to announce that he would be distributing the film himself, taking it on tour around the country and charging $75.00 for the privilege of seeing his film.

Well, next Tuesday is bringing the “tour” to Denver’s Paramount Theatre. Needless to say, the film won’t be coming to the Springs so this may be your only chance to see it in a theatre.

Sure, Smith comes with the deal as he will be appearing after each screening to answer questions from the audience. And sure, some critics have said that this religious horror film inspired by fundamentalist preacher Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church is unlike any film he’s made to date.

But now we’ve got the benefit of reviews and, well, they haven’t been kind. The movie, whiCch stars recent Oscar winner Melissa Leo, currently has a 33% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes with Anthony Kaufman of Screen Internation writing that “Red State is so off-the-map that it doesn’t cohere as a whole.”

But avid Smith fans will want to go just for the opportunity to hear Silent Bob speak. And, of course, that intial $75 price has been cut in half with the two-for-one discount that everyone gets (Smith must have read the reviews). If you don’t mind sitting in the back of the Paramount, you can get them for just $55.

You can pre-order your tickets here

Parking is included in your tickets and is available at either:Dominion Tower – 600 17th Street410 Garage – 410 17th Street

For more info about the tour, go here. Oh, and here’s a rant he posted there:

THE RED STATEMENT

The Harvey Boys have witnessed first hand the vagaries of “studio math” – the byzantine numbers game that sees an uneducated media and public celebrating “huge” openings at the box office while ignoring the obscene marketing costs attached to reach those figures. We believe it’s a pyrrhic victory to simply “buy” an opening weekend by pouring millions of dollars into TV spots, billboards and print ads. As storytellers, why not instead use our creative abilities that resulted in a film in the first place to also creatively SELL that film directly to our public?

We believe the state of film marketing has become ridiculously expensive and exclusionary to the average filmmaker longing simply to tell their story. When the costs of marketing and releasing a movie are four times that film’s budget, it’s apparent the traditional distribution mechanism is woefully out of touch with not only the current global economy, but also the age of social media.

Therefore, The Harvey Boys will not spend a dime on old world media buys (such as TV/Print/Outdoor) as we self-distribute our film, Red State, in an admittedly unconventional, yet extremely cost effective, word of mouth/viral campaign.

Knowledge is power, and we believe in empowering the filmmaker – so the Harvey Boys vow to make the financials of Red State open and transparent from which anybody hoping to follow suit can learn. We will do what no studio has dared: open up our books for the world to see so anyone interested in pursuing a similar independent release strategy has a better understanding of the BUSINESS of Red State.

And if we’re successful – or even merely effective – at producing a film distribution apparatus that can stand apart from the cost-prohibitive studio model currently viewed as the only way to get a movie into a theater? It is our intent to use the groundwork we lay with Red State to aid other filmmakers in releasing THEIR films, via our newly launched SModcast Pictures.

Don’t hate the studio; BECOME the studio. Anybody can make a movie; what we aim to prove is anyone can release a movie as well

The Harvey Boys

Jon Gordon & Kevin Smith

Photo by ‘Red State’/Kevin Smith Production