Film Review -Green Room (2015)

Punk rock gets a 1970s grindhouse boot into the mosh pit with Jeremy Saulnier‘s Green Room. Nine years after its initial cinematic release in 2016, the kings of limited edition releases, Second Sight Films, unleash the magic and physical release it deserves.

Green Room is Saulnier‘s follow-up to his elegantly atmospheric, pulpy revenge thriller Blue Ruin (2014). That was a masterclass on how to capture your audience perfectly in the opening minutes and keep them gripped until the end. It featured a captivating performance from Macon Blair, who just happens to be in this one too.

What is a green room? In the television and music industry, it’s the room at a venue where celebrities and bands hang out before and after they perform or are interviewed. In the movie version, we follow a struggling punk band, the Ain’t Rights, who are on the road in the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, their show gets cancelled, and the band is desperately in need of cash. As Pat, Sam, Reece, and Tiger (played by Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, and Callum Turner) try to figure out what to do next, a new opportunity comes their way.

That opportunity comes from the promoter of their cancelled show, through his cousin. It’s to a venue a few hours’ drive away in the middle of nowhere, a dive bar in a forest. The venue is run by neo-Nazis, particularly Darcy (played by Patrick Stewart), and it’s an offer the band could not refuse, as it’s good money. They arrive at the venue filled with the lowest of the low, boots, skins, and Nazi memorabilia covering the venue.

The band decides to kick off their set with the classic – a brave choice in a venue full of Nazis. Eventually, things go well for the band until they head back to the green room to collect their gear. However, things spiral out of control when they find someone lying dead on the floor, leaving them trapped in that room. Will they walk out alive, or will they be forced to fight their way out to survive?

Green Room is a very personal film for Jeremy Saulnier, with certain events he experienced inspiring the film. You could also say it’s a love letter to films like John Carpenter’s Assault On Precinct 13. Saulnier was also in a punk band. In my 20s, I was involved in my local Hardcore Punk scene. I set up gigs, created posters, flyers, and even made a fanzine. Anyone who was involved knew it wasn’t just about the music; it was also a lifestyle and culture. Like the film, it had its bad apples.

Green Room doesn’t hold back from the gore: faces blown off, bitten off by dogs, even bodies punctured by knives. Every potential escape route is covered by red-laced militias and their bloodthirsty dogs. It’s an intense wild ride that’s brutally honest, relentlessly gruesome, and claustrophobic. The character development might be minimal, but that works to its benefit. We spend enough time with the Ain’t Rights to create an emotional bond with them, keeping you gripped. Sadly, this would be one of Anton Yelchin’s final films; he was tragically killed a few years later. He was the existential thread that kept us sane and gripped to our seats. Patrick Stewart was like a wolf in sheep’s clothing: beguiling and fantastic in every way.

Second Sight Films has packed this release with a 120-page book and the usual features, including a couple of audio commentaries. Saulnier’s commentary has such a fun, playful tone. The other commentary comes from Blood Disgusting writers Prince Jackson and Reyna Cervantes, who are clearly fanboys/fangirls. What really stands out is Jeremy Saulnier‘s new 32-minute interview, which delves into not just the film but also his own relationship with punk. Things do get emotional when he talks about his time on set with Anton Yelchin.

Saulnier has masterfully showcased his ability to deliver a film ingeniously with virtually no budget. It’s a DIY punk ethic in filmmaking, with a stomping soundtrack featuring a mix of punk classics and scores from Macon Blair‘s brothers, Brooke & Will. Green Room is a raw, visceral, disturbing, thrilling survival thriller, that will play like a mosh pit in your living room.