This would be a surprise move, had it not been on the cards for so long: Kevin Smith is making a deadly serious horror film. Red State, which he describes as "so bleak that it makes The Dark Knight look like Strawberry Shortcake" is a film Smith has been trying to get up and running since at least 2007. Studios (including Smith's long-time patrons the Weinsteins) have not been keen, since it presumably doesn't feature any knob gags, and the idea was even mooted at one point that it might be fan-funded.
But not so. Smith, via his ThatKevinSmith Twitter account, has revealed that the only money required from fans will be the ticket price, and that shooting will start in July. It's not yet clear who's put up the cash, but one of Smith's tweets does mention "coming home". Is it Harvey and Bob after all?
Red State is based to some extent around Fred Phelps, although we're sure all the characters will be fictitious and any resemblance to persons living or dead, purely coincidental. Phelps' independent Kansas based Westboro Baptist Church preaches that God will punish homosexuals and that natural disasters and terrorist attacks are all God berating us for tolerating sexual diversity.
The actual direction of the plot isn't yet known, but Smith previously hinted that the film, as well as using a Phelps-like character as a "horrifying and scary" villain, will turn a beady eye on the political and societal systems that allow him to operate. Technically not yer traditional horror flick then. But, says Smith, "to me it is".
Elsewhere in the View Askew-niverse, the previously announced Hockey movie Hit Somebody starring Sean William Scott, will have to wait. Not for too long though: Smith tweeted that Red State and Hit Somebody are being made "ass to ass". Ah, now there's the Kev we know.