{"id":80990,"date":"2015-10-16T12:19:29","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T11:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=80990"},"modified":"2015-10-16T12:21:47","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T11:21:47","slug":"green-room-lff-film-review-a-brutal-stomach-turning-horror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/reviews\/green-room-lff-film-review-a-brutal-stomach-turning-horror\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Room LFF film review: a brutal stomach-turning horror"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Saulnier follows his incredible revenge thriller Blue Ruin<\/em><\/strong> with the brutally affecting horror Green Room<\/em><\/strong>, a siege horror\u00a0that will leave you breathless.<\/p>\n

Punk band The Ain\u2019t Rights is at the tail end of a disappointing tour through the Pacific Northwest. They\u2019re broke, they\u2019re hungry, and they\u2019re stealing gas to make it from show to show. So when they get offered a gig playing at a right wing bar in the woods, they\u2019re not really in a position to quibble on politics.<\/p>\n

After a bit of tension with the locals, the gig goes off without a hitch, but when they see something they\u2019re not supposed to, the band find themselves locked in their green room surrounded by armed, angry and capable men. Who will make it out?<\/p>\n

Much can (and should) be made of the brutal violence that begins about 20 minutes into the film, but what gives that violence its impact is the affection we have for these characters. They’re an incredibly likeable group (they even play The Dead Kennedys’ ‘Nazi Punks Fuck Off’ as an opener at the bar), and the casting is absolutely spot on, with Anton Yelchin on great form as Pat, the indecisive group leader, backed up by Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development<\/em><\/strong>), Joe Cole (The Falling<\/em><\/strong>) and Callum Turner (Glue<\/em><\/strong>). Meanwhile, Imogen Poots is excellent as Amber, the girl who is in the same boat as these outsiders and has a very good idea of what\u2019s coming.<\/p>\n

Like Blue Ruin<\/em><\/strong>, Green Room<\/em><\/strong> is both unflashy and brilliantly constructed. A slo-mo sequence of the crowd reacting to the band is about as stylised as the film gets. Once things get dark, Saulnier drops us into this terrifying situation and brilliantly ratchets up the tension. From the moment that Pat finds himself looking down the barrel of a gun, we\u2019re in a nightmare that is only going to get worse, and no one is in any doubt about how bad things are going to get.<\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

When it comes to depicting that nightmare, Saulnier doesn\u2019t flinch. The wounds inflicted on these characters\u00a0are truly stomach turning, and we spent a good deal of the film rushing to put our hands over our face. When they get hurt, it hurts. When they die, it\u2019s horrific. The young actors remain on point throughout, with Cole and Shawkat particularly impressing.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Patrick Stewart as Darcy, the bar owner and leader of the gang of neo Nazi thugs who knows they can\u2019t let these kids leave. For the most part, Stewart underplays it beautifully. Wearing a jumper and glasses, he\u2019s imposing not because of his physique but because of his sheer presence. His quiet fury is very effective, but not as effective as his calmer moments, rationally planning out the best way to dispose of the bodies or trying to convince Pat that this has all been a misunderstanding. Blue Ruin<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s star Macon Blair is also great as Darcy\u2019s slightly overwhelmed right hand Darcy.<\/p>\n

Green Room<\/em> <\/strong>has been criticised by some for lacking the subtext of Blue Ruin<\/em><\/strong>, for being an exercise above all else, but it\u2019s most definitely an effective one. You won\u2019t catch a breath for a good thirty minutes in the middle, and you will emerge bruised, shaken and affected. This is a brilliantly crafted and executed nightmare you won’t soon forget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Saulnier follows Blue Ruin with siege horror Green Room<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":80991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[2615,8],"tags":[4811,797],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Green-Room.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80990"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}