Review of Green Room (2016) by Dp W — 22 Apr 2016

When I was maybe not quite 16 years old, I was almost jumped by a group of skinheads at punk show in Chicago. I was being picked on by one of the bald meanies in the pit; I talked some shit back at him, in defense. For my transgression I was promised that he was going to call for reinforcements and that I would be sorry.

Through a little bit of cunning (and a dash of tail-between-the-legs cowardice) I was able to narrowly escape my would-be brutalizers and make it home safe that night without the bruises and broken bones they wished upon me.

Our would-be heroes in the new indie-splatter house pic, 'Green Room' aren't as lucky as I was that night.

I was drawn in to the movie's plot from the get go. Before any carnage sprays the screen, it very accurately portrays the spirit of the punk ethos up top. This fondness for the culture sets the foundation for the movie's own stylized, exaggerated version of the very real elements of danger and the threat of violent, bodily harm that were also part of the "punk rock" experience (as exemplified by my own personal recounting above).

We are introduced to The Ain't Rights (essentially an archetypal DC hardcore band plucked from the early 80's and placed in a modern setting) as they are passed out in their tour van. Little details - a Fugazi sticker on a van, a Minor Threat shirt sported by a band member, and a fellow punker deemed worthy because he owns a Fear record on vinyl - spoke to me. The punk scene held such sway over me in my teenage years and this affectionate attention to detail warmed my heart and put a smile on my face.

I still revisit those days in my head - the sweaty circle pits; the dingy, beer soaked venues; the idealization of staying "pure" and "true" to the lifestyle and never, at any cost, selling out.

But "selling out", in a way, is what brings doom upon The Ain't Rights. As much as they extol the virtues of stubbornly sticking to their ideals to an underground punk rock pod cast interviewer (i.e. "No social media presence"), they essentially allow money to trump their values.

When the band becomes hard up for the cash to make it home from tour they decide to play a show for a crowd of Right Wing Nazi Skinheads.

Mind you they try to protest the nefarious far-right views of the crowd, whose cash they'll gladly take, by kicking off their set with a cover of The Dead Kennedy's 'Nazi Punks Fuck Off'... But I think the film could be interpreted as a morality tale of the dark places we find ourselves when we subvert our own moral compasses.

Yet to contemplate upon such things as the 'deeper subtext' in this film review might skate dangerously close to making it seem that 'Green Room' is some meditative, slow burn, art house affair. Far from it.

This movie is a subversive, blood soaked, pummel-your-fucking-face in, white knuckle (no pun intended) action/ horror hybrid. I see it as a sort of new millennium update of John Carpenter's 'Assault on Precinct 13'; as well as a spiritual cousin to the equally bloody 2013 Evil Dead remake (a film I'm quite found of).

It's a movie that's so economically one-track minded in its objective (a group of punks who must fight for their lives against a group of Neo Nazi fucks), that it makes other, far more laborious mainstream Hollywood bonanzas (ahem, Batman V Superman) seem all the more flabby and bloated.

Back to to the plot.. The Ain't Rights stumble on to a murder scene in the green room of the club after their set, about 15 to 20 minutes in, and from there the movie ratchets up the tension and just. doesn't. quit.

The actors playing the band are great in their respective roles. Anton Yelchin really went up on my cool list when I caught the little seen gem 'Odd Thomas' on Netflix last year (it really is a cool, criminally under looked popcorn/actioner/ horror/ comedy that you should check out if you get the chance). In that film he proved he can have a lotta fun in a leading man role. He is playing a different shade of the action leading man here; intentionally less confident and more of an average-Joe-who-must-muster-his-bravery if he is going to live through this horror show.

You have great girl-power roles by Imogene Poots (a young gal who is actually of the skinhead tribe; complete with an authentic choppy bangs & long-side-hair-tendrils cut that many of the "skin" gals I knew back in the day actually sported) who brings an almost creepy, unhinged element to her character and Alia Shawkat (Maeby from Arrested Development), the scrappy "token" female band member of the Ain't Rights who goes from afraid to fierce fighter over the coarse of the flick.

Macon Blair puts in a expertly understated performance as the right hand man of the main baddie. You get the sense that he is a loyal, "company man" type, who has sadly (and once the carnage around him cranks to 11, somewhat reluctantly) dedicated himself to some downright nasty company.

And speaking of main baddies, we get a fantastic 'against-type' performance by Patrick Stewart as the patriarchal surrogate ring leader/ father figure of the young, violent hitler youth types. A role that could have been a one-note, gnashing of teeth ordeal is imbued with subtlety and pathos by the elder thespian.

Though I drew comparisons to other horror films above, 'Green Room' could also, more broadly, be placed in league with other punk rock "classics" (Alex Cox's 'Repo Man' and 'Sid & Nancy'; 'Suburbia' - both the 1984 Penelope Spheeris joint as well as Richard Linklater's 1996 pic; 'SLC Punk').

These are films that, although they differ in style and approach, are made with an insider's perspective of punk rock subculture that allows for analysis of the violence and nihilism that exist in its darker pockets.

It's also a lot of good, bloody fun!

Green Room was written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, who also did another brilliantly conceived genre film, Blue Ruin (a post modern, tragic deconstruction of the Charles Bronson/ Death Wish formula). Support great art and see it in theatres asap!

#GreenRoom #punkrock #suburbia1984 #suburbia1996 #assaultonprecinct13 #evildead2013 #blueruin #greenroommovie #repoman #sidandnancy #slcpunk #oddthomas.