NZIFF Film Review: "Green Room" (2015).

"Now. Whatever you saw or did. Is no longer my concern. But let's be clear. It won't end well." This is Green Room. This horror-thriller film written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier. A punk rock band becomes trapped in a secluded venue after finding a scene of violence. For what they saw, the band themselves become targets of violence from a gang of white power skinheads who want to eliminate all evidence of the crime.

The film came from Saulnier's desire to create a thriller set in a green room, calling the idea "an obsession". Saulnier wanted to make this movie partly because as his career advanced, he knew he would not be offered the chance to make a movie as ultra-violent and bleak as this film and that no novice filmmaker would be given the chance to direct it either. He felt that after the success of Blue Ruin (2013), the time was right to take on a movie as demanding as this one. Saulnier was partly inspired by Straw Dogs (1971). In 2007, Saulnier created a short film set in one as part of a 48-hour film challenge in 2007 which involved the supernatural and according to Saulnier was "really kind of fun and hammy." However, he still wanted a chance to do his green room movie "the right way". Although the film features a large amount of violence and what Saulnier calls "full frontal gore", he has gone on record as stating that it is not "sadistic", and that every act of violence apart from the initiating incident is done with a reason. As such Saulnier made sure that there were no "gratuitous close ups" of recently deceased characters. By October 2014, Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Patrick Stewart, Alia Shawkat, and Callum Turner were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and took place throughout Oregon. The film marked Yelchin's last film to be released before his death, on June 19, 2016.

The film stars Yelchin, Poots, Stewart, Shawkat, and Turner. Yelchin and Stewart are not the kind of actors who usually gets to anchor a motion picture, let alone a violent revenge picture, and that's part of what makes the movie work.

Smart, stripped-down, and thrillingly grim, Green Room proves that a well-told revenge story can still leave its audience on the edge of their seat. It is not a truly organic story in terms of originality, but its brutal take on revenge and Yelchin and Stewart's performances makes it one of the year's best films that no-one will have heard of. Saulnier has created a very brutal, raw image of the revenge thriller. He takes it out of the ridiculousness of Hollywood and how big budget films treat the sub-genre. Despite a plot hole in the otherwise well-plotted and enticing thriller, it's an ace calling card for its director and actors. The film marks Saulnier out as an exciting filmmaker to watch - it's just a shame that the film can't fully shake off the weight of its influences.

Simon says Green Room receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for Suburra.