Green Room (2015) Review

“It [Green Room] is what happens behind the stage that matters in this taut thriller as a rebellious group of musicians end up punished for being in the wrong place at the time” ~ Creepercast

Synopsis: A traveling punk rock band, The Ain't Rights, i.e. Pat (Anton Yelchin), Sam (Alia Shawkat), Reece (Joe Cole), and Tiger (Callum Turner), is forced to fight for survival after witnessing a murder at a neo-Nazi skinhead bar. Written and Directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Murder Party, Blue Ruin), Green Room is a taut thriller with plenty of action.

We begin this review with a fond farewell to a talented young actor that was taken from us way too soon. As film lovers he was first introduced to us the reason why everything went to hell in Alpha Dogs. In the horror community we knew him as the new Charley Brewster, Odd Thomas, the poor guy who wanted to bury his ex, and the bass player of The Ain't Rights in the movie we are about to talk about. Though Green Room isn’t the last time we’ll see him, given the new Star Trek and ‘We Don’t Belong Here’, the world of horror has lost a champion that still had so much more to give genre. I can’t claim to be a fan of the new version of Fright Night but as a fan of the Odd Thomas novels I truly expected to see more with Anton in the quintessential role. It is very saddening to know that not only have any future Odd Thomas been shelved indefinitely but that a person I believe embodied the character perfectly will not be reprising the role. That much said, let's take a moment to reflect on a film that he left us to remember him buy...

Green Room is another one of those visceral drama/action/thriller/horror films we have been seeing a lot of lately. Done well, these films take us to a dark place where the reality of those horrors lurk in the corners and alleys of our lives. This Death Wave, as we’ve taken to calling it, has been brilliantly explored by several writers and Directors and is a championed genre of horror that writer/director Jeremy Saulnier is obviously no stranger. It is what happens behind the stage that matters in this taut thriller as a rebellious group of musicians end up punished for being in the wrong place at the time. Interestingly it is the accidental witnessing of a murder that seals their fate and not the fact they started their set telling the nazi punks to fuck off Dead Kennedys style. I mean, that alone would normally would have earned an instant ass kicking. It’s a good thing these four are good at jamming (Yelchin and Shawcat can actually shred on their instruments in real life). The struggles of life on the road come to crescendo once the murder in the green room is witnessed. Then the movie turns into a fight for survival as the four quasi-punks are left to fend for themselves against the real white bread punks.

One of the many things Saulnier has done right with Green Room is assembling a fantastic team of actors. Not just the obvious four that make up the The Ain't Rights but this film has Patrick Stewart as the Neo-Nazi bar owning leader. Rumor has it Stewart wanted this role after reading only a few a few pages of his characters dialogue because he’d never played such a sadistic creature. Afterwards it scared him having played such a monster. But c’mon, he’s Patrick F’n Stewart, he can play any twisted character he wants, he’ll be amazing at it, and we will love him. In the end Green Room is everything you want it to be with an awesome punk soundtrack, a peek into one of America’s darker sub-cultures, and everyday people facing insurmountable odds.

Til next we bleed… Farewell from the beasts and I,
JP

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