VOD Review: Green Room (2016)

"As bloody as it is, this movie really should have been called Red Room."

(aka Captain Picard And His Merry Band of Neo-Nazis.)
Release Date: June 28th.
Country: USA.
Rating: R.
Written by: Jeremy Saulnier.
Directed by: Jeremy Saulnier.
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Patrick Stewart, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Macon Blair and Mark Webber.

Back in 2014, we were impressed by Jeremy Saulnier's Blue Ruin (review HERE); a grim and brutal story of revenge, and the effects that violence has on people, both good and bad.

As effective and well-made as Blue Ruin was, the writer/director has definitely stepped up his game with Green Room; a tight and taut, and ultra-violent Thriller that's one of the best movies that we've seen in 2016 so far.

Pat, Sam, Tiger and Reece are The Ain't Rights; a struggling Punk Band who travel around in a van, taking any gig they can. They're rockers. That's what rockers do. When a local DJ sets them up with a gig that pays $350, they're all over it... even though it's at a Neo-Nazi bar that's way out in the isolated, "You're screwed if something goes wrong" woods. But as long as they're respectful of the Hitler Youth, and give them something to mosh to, nothing will go wrong. Of course kicking off their set by playing a cover of "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" probably wasn't the the way to go...

"FUCK  YOU, VIOLENT, HATE-FILLED AUDIENCE!"

After a rough start, the set goes off without a hitch, and the band rocks their set. After the show, they collect their money, pack their shit up, and they're ready to hit the road again, until one of them realizes that they left their phone in the Green Room. There's also a newly stabbed-to-death body in the Green Room which they weren't supposed to see. Needless to say, their plans of "leaving and "being alive" are pretty much out the window.

YOU'VE ONLY GOT ONLY SIX BULLETS, SO MAKE THEM COUNT.

We'll say no more of the plot here, so as not to spoil the rest of the movie for you, but we will say that things get really, really messy and gory, and that Patrick Stewart makes for one hell of an ominous villain.

CAPTAIN PICARD DON'T PLAY.

There's been a lot of hype surrounding Green Room since it started making the Festival Rounds back in May of last year, and so we went into it with all sorts of high expectations. We're happy to say that most of those expectations were well met.

Green Room is a well-crafted movie from top to bottom. Jeremy Saulnier knows how to do intensity better than most. He's also is a director who sets himself limits and sticks with them, which is why his movies tend to be so structurally sound. Everything is played rather straight-forward in Green Room: A band full of regular kids stumbles into a bad situation where they see something that they shouldn't have, and then the people behind said act spend the rest of the movie trying to kill them, so as to cover their asses. There's not a ton of twists and turns throughout this one, instead it's more like "Sorry guys, we love your music and all, but you've got to go. You understand, right?" And that's why Green Room was such an intense watch for us; it felt like something that could actually happen.

The cast is solid as well. With his passing a little over a week ago, it was odd watching Anton Yelchin in the lead role. He was great as usual, but man did it smart to think that he died so young as we watched him do his thing. He was a talented kid, and it just sucks that he isn't here anymore. Patrick Stewart made a great bad guy, even if he didn't get all that much screen time. Imogen Poots played the part of a frazzled punker chick to a T, and at least she got plenty of screen time to work with. And that Macon Blair guy... he was great in Blue Ruin, and he made for a suitably sympathetic presence in this one. He needs to be in more movies.

DAMN HE WAS TALENTED.

Those Neo-Nazi bastards just had to go and turn the pit bulls in this movie into bloodthirsty killing machines, didn't they!

ALL PIBBLES REALLY WANT IS SOMEONE TO CUDDLE WITH.

What was Pat's damned Desert Island Song?!? (It was probably the one that played over the credits, but it remains a mystery!)

"NO, IT WAS NOT MANDY BY BARRY MANILOW!"

Green Room is a nasty little piece of work, gore-wise. The stabbing, the slicing, the throat-slitting, the gun violence... it all feels way more real than it should, and it made us flinch more than a few times.

HE REALLY ENJOYED THEIR MUSIC.

Nope.

THAT HAIRCUT THOUGH...

Skinheads don't like to be called Nazi Punks, nor do they like to be told to Fuck Off. Nice going, Dead Kennedys.

WE ALSO LEARNED THAT MACON BLAIR NEEDS TO BE IN MORE MOVIES.

Green Room is an intense Thriller that engaged us from the get-go, and kept us on edge throughout. Its ultra-violent content is a big part of the movie, but its humanity is what really propels it forward, making the gory moments that much more impactful. Solid writing, directing, and acting make this one well-above average in that way.

Now that it's out on VOD, you should really give it a rent.

Green Room is available now on VOD, and on Blu-ray & DVD on July 12th.

Imogen Poots is a world class QT.