Since Chris Sivertson’s bold, disturbing THE LOST, Jack Ketchum movie adaptations have sprung up everywhere, with OFFSPRING upcoming and promising to be the nastiest of them all. RED differs from both those (and THE GIRL NEXT DOOR) in its absence of shock tactics and a far more restrained approach to its subject matter.
Widowed general store owner Brian Cox is powerless to prevent his beloved 14 year old dog being callously shot dead for kicks by a heartless young punk while the lad’s pals look impotently on following an attempt at robbing the older man. The law of the state considers dogs as merely property and cruelty committed against them carries a mandatory fine of just $100. The Sheriff is insensitive about Cox’s “mongrel” dog but helps him to track the culprits. The boy responsible denies all to his dad (Tom Sizemore), a prominent figure in the community despite being only slightly above a redneck, while journalist Kim Dickens is eager to publicize the local law’s failure and also keen to get Sizemore shamed out of town.
The first thing you notice about RED – other than the fact that co-director Lucky McKee still has yet to live up to the huge promise of his debut MAY – is that it has an exceptional cast. There are some prominent hams in the supporting cast, notably Sizemore, Robert Englund and Amanda Plummer – but all of them underplay so refreshingly and effectively that you wish the script had more for them to do. It’s nice also to see Ashley Laurence, as Sizemore’s wife, who’s still as gorgeous now as she was in HELLRAISER 22 years ago, even though she’s playing a weary, long-suffering character.
Both the film and Ketchum’s original book immerse themselves in the dark side of human nature and build to violent revenge-movie climaxes, though they are a long way from the balls-out, nihilistic horror fare that made Ketchum’s name. There’s nothing here to upset, save for a shot of a maggot-ridden dog corpse, and the film’s ending is Hollywood-happy, complete with a recovered hero and a cute new puppy to keep him company.
The darker elements of the novel have been somewhat muted for a movie that sometimes veers dangerously close to TV-drama territory, though at its best, RED is poignantly elegiac : a somber drama about a man beset by loss driven to uncharacteristically brutal acts due to unnecessary cruelty by his fellow man. It’s talky and theatrical in feel, with minimal music, low-key direction, un-showy acting and only brief bursts of action.
Brian Cox, given a rare lead role, is the film’s most riveting aspect : hauntingly credible as an ordinary guy with an extraordinary back-story. The lengthy dialogue scene in which he recounts the grim fate of his wife and sons to Dickens is the film’s emotional centerpiece and as fine a display of movie acting as you’ll see this year. Too bad, then, that so much is under-developed in the movie interpretation of RED, including that relationship between Dickens and Cox.
– Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
