Red State is a movie filmed straight from the first draft of the shooting script.

Right from the opening shot of a small town, the cuts of scenery are so quick the audience doesn’t even know what they’re supposed to be looking at. Eventually the camera settles on a mother driving her son to school. On the way they pass a group protesting the funeral of a recently murdered homosexual student. Director Kevin Smith finally lingers on a shot of one of the protest signs featuring the phrase “Anal Penetration” in big, bold letters. We see the sign a few times more before the boy gets to school.

When he does, he explains to his teacher (who doesn’t even seem to mind his tardiness) why he’s late, and she launches into some unbelievably clumsy exposition about the group’s leader, Pastor Abin Cooper (Michael Parks), a nut of a fundamentalist who’s universally despised around these parts and runs his own private Wacoville just outside of town. It’s also brought up at the murdered boy went to that very high school! Two things should immediately pop out: 1) If the kid went to that school, and was murdered two weeks ago, how on earth is it possible that none of his classmates knew him? And 2) If everyone already knows Abin Cooper, then why spend so much time explaining who he is, what he does, where he does it, why he does it…? The answer, of course, is to fill in the audience, but it’s done in such an amateurish way that you can’t believe it came from writer/director Kevin Smith, who’s not only made eight feature films, not only been writing professionally for nearly 20 years, but who’s also a man who prides himself on the quality of his writing.

And this is in the first three minutes.

When Platinum Dunes announced plans to remake the original Nightmare on Elm Street, I had mixed feelings. I was a fan of the original series, and watched all seven movies. I even watched that dreadful Friday night program Freddy’s Nightmares. I guess you could say I have a soft spot for the film series.

However, when Jackie Earle Haley was announced as the new Freddy Krueger, he was fresh off an electrifying performance as Rorschach in Watchmen, and I was officially on board with the remake. I couldn’t think of anyone better to step into the role previously played by Robert Englund.

So while watching the remake, I was surprised at how odd it was to see someone else play the role. I didn’t dislike Jackie Earle Haley’s performance (though I do wish he hadn’t sounded exactly like Rorshach), but I guess I didn’t realize that Robert Englund had become synonymous with Freddy Krueger in my mind.

As we’ve been doing all week so far in anticipation of the start of the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX we’ve got another preview for you of a film making its world premiere at the fest. The film in question, Cherry, stars Kyle Gallner, Brittany Robertson and Laura Allen and tells the coming of age story of a sheltered college freshman learning about life.

Aaron (Gallner), is said college freshmen and as he embarks on his journey it soon turns out life is more complicated than dorm parties, co-eds and the college’s elite engineering program when Aaron meets Linda (Laura Allen). When Linda invites him home for dinner, Aaron thinks he’s getting lucky.

Instead he meets Beth (Robertson), Linda’s punk, sarcastic and intense 14-year-old daughter who immediately develops a huge crush on him. Once that happpens, Aaron is then caught between these two powerful women and he soon learns that life and love are much harder to calculate than he ever expected.

Cherry will have its world premiere at SXSW. Check out the trailer after the break.

Warner Bros. has released the second trailer over at MySpace for the upcoming horror remake A Nightmare on Elm Street, which stars Jackie Earle Haley as the iconic Freddie Krueger. And folks, it’s a pretty damn good one.

Not only does this trailer give us a bit more insight into the look and feel of the film, it also provides more than enough horror and terror for three trailer. In short, it makes me even more interested in seeing this movie when it comes out.

The remake, directed by Samuel Bayer, in addition to Haley features Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy, and Thomas Dekker as a group of suburban teens being haunted and killed in their sleep. See, this is why I try never to sleep.

Check out the full trailer after the break. A Nightmare on Elm Street opens April 30, 2010.

Are you excited for the remake of the horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street? If so, this post is for you. Today, a new poster for the remake was relased into the wild at MySpace and features a better look at Jackie Earle Haley in the iconic role of your worst nightmare Freddy Krueger.

As you probably know, the original film was directed by horror legend Wes Craven and released in 1984. It spawned several sequels and imitators and propelled the character of Freddy Kruger into infamy. The remake, which is directed by Samuel Bayer and hits theaters on April 30, features Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy, and Thomas Dekker as a group of suburban teens being haunted and killed in their sleep.

Even though I’m not always a big fan of remakes, this one looks pretty darn cool. More and more Haley seems like an inspired choice to take over as Freddy Kruger. If he brings to the role the killer intensity he showed as Rorchasch in Watchmen, he might just be able to pull it off. The more I see of the new film, the more I hope he can.

Click through for a look at the full poster. Seeing this, what do you guys think of Haley as Freddy Kruger and are you excited for the remake?