Green Room (2016) Review

"The Ain't Rights," a group of four young musicians playing abrasive punk rock, are traveling on the road playing an assortment of gigs while struggling to make ends meet. After a particularly underwhelming show in Seaside, Oregon draws a nearly empty and apathetic crowd, a radio show host offers them the chance to play at a small club outside of Portland. Desperate for any sort of income and exposure, they agree to travel and jump on the bill. However, when they arrive, they discover that not only is the venue seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but it is also a haven for neo-nazi skinheads. After their set is finished and they wish to pack up and hit the road, band member Pat walks into the green room, a place for band members to relax before and after performing, to retrieve a cell phone that has been left behind, but stumbles across two of the patrons standing over a dead woman with a knife in her head. Panicking, the entire band suddenly find themselves locked in by the bouncers, and those inside and outside of the club have no intention of letting them leave so easily after what they have witnessed.



Given that I am going to be heading out on the road in less than twenty-four hours, wherein I will eventually find myself enjoying the perks of a four day music festival in Baltimore, Maryland, I may just cut to the chase with this opening paragraph: save for a certain Marvel Studios flick that was released within this month, Jeremy Saulnier's third directorial foray into gritty, uneasy cinema, the aptly, if not simply titled Green Room, is my frontrunner for the best picture of 2016 that has been released to theaters. In layman's terms, it is really, really damn good. The amount of unnerving tension and flat-out dread that is felt throughout its ninety-five minute running time (which runs by quicker than one thinks that it would) is nothing short of exceptional. Saulnier (who also writes here), much like the earlier efforts from genre greats like Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven, has a knack for making the audience nervous from the get go, as is evidenced when our protagonists pull up to this venue that is apparently cut off from the rest of the world. Speaking from experience, my own band (cue cheap plug) has played at clubs like this one, and trust me when I say that should anything ever go awry at places such as these, you really do suspect that you are more helpless than you realize, and who knows how long help would come (if at all). Admiringly, the man does manage to sprinkle in small bits of black comedy here and there too, so you won't just be constantly grimacing.

As with Saulnier's previous release Blue Ruin, the film's propensity for rather alarming violence very much appears out of nowhere. Of course, compared to the overabundance of modern pop culture phenomenons, it is far from the goriest, but every single sequence and action packs more of a punch than any traditional slasher or Dimension Pictures production could ever churn out. As someone who has a relatively iron stomach, there were multiple moments in here that just had me wincing and emitting an audible gasp or pained groan. Green Room also boasts some top notch performances from an impressive gathering of decidedly underrated actors and actresses, including the usually reliable Anton Yelchin (Star Trek, Charlie Bartlett), Blue Ruin and Hellbenders alum Macon Blair (*waving hello in case he reads this*), and Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later), who wears a "chelsea" haircut rather well if you ask this lonely, single fella....wait, can't get distracted here. Everyone shows up here with the absolute best of intentions, clearly fascinated by and embracing the script which they had previously read. The most surprising addition to Green Room is the casting of one Sir Patrick Stewart. While I myself will say that its always going to be difficult watching the esteemed thespian take part in anything that doesn't involve the Star Trek franchise, he knocks it out of the park by portraying an eerily calm, if not deceptively sinister club owner who is hiding far more sinister secrets than even his own employees or underlings would believe. He's the cherry on top of a very bloody sundae.

There is also a real hidden gem that stands out in Green Room, and that is the attention to detail when it comes to the musical side. Perhaps I'm just a sucker for any motion picture that actually seems to correctly get the vibes of anything associated with punk rock, heavy metal, or hardcore, but from I have heard, Saulnier and his cohorts/crew spent quite a few years involved with the late 90s/early 2000s scene, and you can tell. Don't believe me? Well, Toxic Holocaust mastermind Joel Grind helps contribute to The Ain't Rights own tunes, and the list of "thank yous" during the end credits reads like your friend's pretty awesome iTunes collection. So shut your yap. There is also a rather dreary (but great!) score permeated throughout, and a solid mixture of licensed music heard amidst the chaos. 

If my memory serves me well (which is debatable at best, as I can attest that goldfish have a better chance at remembering little things than I do), I previously wrote that director Jeremy Saulnier could very well be on his way to becoming the next Joel or Ethan Coen. Well, since my own posts' views have increased a tad bit over the past few years, I will boldly repeat myself and cement that opinion. The craftsmanship of a picture like Green Room is beyond impressive, and for those seeking out a fresh, bold, darkly funny, and quite frankly unsettling piece of cinema, the man's third full-length effort (his second to be released in theaters), I can not encourage you enough to seek this out and give it your hard-earned cash. Trust me, as great as a picture like Captain America: Civil War is, it isn't going anywhere; it'll be fine. Please support the smaller guys in this case, so that their repertoire and cast may grow even larger with future endeavors, and eventually warrant not just wider releases for fresh projects, but even more accolades and awards.

Or if you miss this particular one in theaters, you can at least buy Saulnier and Blair a round of drinks should you run into them in or around the Austin or Portland areas. They had the good sense to put Midnight, Bad Brains, and Napalm Death onto the movie's soundtrack after all.

The Green Inferno (2015) Movie Review

College freshman Jessica, the daughter of a lawyer with ties to the United Nations, joins a group of young, likeminded social activists, lead by the passionate and outspoken Alejandro. Soon, the gathering of campus students will partake in their next mission, wherein they hope to save the Amazon rainforest from logging and deforestation, with the plans involving to film their protests and upload it to social media and news sites around the globe. Upon arriving, they initially succeed, though not without unexpected scares, which put a select few in danger at the risk of achieving internet fame. However, when things go horrifically awry on a return flight back to the United States, the radicals find themselves at the mercy of one of the Amazon's native tribes.

This may be the most obvious statement of the year, and hell, maybe even out of anything that I've ever typed for this little blog, but the subgenre of horror cinema known as "cannibal films" is certainly not for everyone. More often than not, they aim to disturb rather than entertain, telling you that the greatest fears and terrors that we can encounter in what years we have left on this planet will come from the living rather than the deceased or the supernatural. They're gruesome, vile reminders of some of the darker sides of humanity, and can occasionally make you question whether the ones committing these murders are truly awful and rotten to the core, or if we are the ones instigating and bringing about these actions from a group of unknown and undiscovered "savages."

When I had first heard that director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel) was going to pay homage to his love for these little ditties (this flick takes its name from an original title that was planned for Rugerro Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust), I admittedly raised a very curious eyebrow. I'll be the first to tell you that I've never been the biggest fan of his previous efforts, enjoying pieces of his movies rather than the entirety of them, but I don't dislike the guy whatsoever. There's always been a certain aura to him that does give off the impression that he's a pretty cool guy, or at the very least, is someone that you could geek out with for an impressive amount of time. The fact that this would be his first time sitting down to direct a full length horror film in six years made me wonder if he had grown as a filmmaker, and I was fully on board.


That was in 2013. Two years have since passed, and I was fully convinced that this would never see the light of day. At the very least, I was hoping for a extremely limited release through "on-demand" services. As luck would have it (and talk about good timing since my own yearly Halloween horror blog-o-thon is coming soon), fifteen hundred screens across the country were lucky enough to have The Green Inferno, even if it was to only be for a short period of time.


Anyway, enough backstory and plodding nonsense. To the number of you reading this, you're just asking two questions: is it worth the wait? Is it any good? Well....sure.


For starters, and just to get the negatives out of the way, I'll just say that one of my biggest pet peeves of Eli Roth's has always been his dialogue. I'm sure that this is meant to depict the way that teenagers and young adults usually converse with one another, but it nearly mimics the likes of his very good friend Quentin Tarantino, though it's lacking any of the real memorable moments of odd comedy or poignancy that the former possesses. More inexperienced or relaxed moviegoers may be able to stomach it a tad easier than someone like me, but after some time has passed (most of Green Inferno's meat and potatoes doesn't get going until around the forty five minute mark), there's a strong chance that you won't notice it since you're fairy engrossed by the events going on. The two women in charge of casting (Kelly Wagner and Dominika Posseren), whose previous works include Crank: High Voltage and The Devil's Rejects, deserve just as much praise as anyone that I'll discuss below. Given that The Green Inferno doesn't exactly possess an oscar-worthy script, the young actors and actresses chosen for the picture by these two are pretty darn good, especially lead actress (and Roth's own missus) Lorenza Izzo. See Rob Zombie? You CAN cast your significant other as the lead in a darker horror film and have them give a good performance. She's got a certain charm that reminded me of some of the greater scream queens of yesteryear, looking genuinely frightened by all of the maiming and terrible situations that she has found herself in. I know that she has a supporting role in the upcoming Knock Knock, which also has her husband in the director's chair, and it makes me happy that we'll be seeing more of her in the future, though hopefully without the fear of genital mutilation that Inferno seems to torture her with.


And oh my goodness gracious, the mutilation. When I caught The Green Inferno at my local theater, there were scenes of violence depicted in here that elicited legitimate "Oh fuck"s from the crowd, and during one sequence where one of the most relatable characters is brutally dismembered and devoured, I caught a glimpse of one young adult turning the tope of their hoodie down over their eyes, so as to hide their discomfort. True, more seasoned veterans will tell you that "this is nothing" compared to obscure or underground classics from the decades prior (and I can't disagree), but for something that received any sort of theatrical release, especially among a sea of mediocrity and films considered to be safe bets by distributors, this is pretty fabulous to see. There's also a nice sweeping score that permeates throughout the experience, obviously reminiscent of motion pictures like the aforementioned Cannibal Holocaust but with some added flair and modern touches to help it stand out.


If you're expecting The Green Inferno to change the face of modern horror cinema, then you're going to come out massively disappointed and potentially feeling gipped. If you're looking for a very bloody, slow burn of a project that may leave you and hopefully your less-traveled friends feeling fairly uncomfortable, then perhaps you should give Roth's newest exercise in disturbance and homage to this often-derided style of cinema (the "POR RUGGERO" during the credits will make you crack a smile) a quick glance. In fact, if you're hesitant to venture out to the cineplex, it may be a better choice to see this on a big screen before its sad box office intake chases it to the home video market, solely for the fact that even if it only makes back its own six million dollar budget, it shows that there is a demand for something "different" compared to today's releases that are usually dumped upon the masses. The world needs more The Green Infernos and Ex Machinas and less sequels to Paranormal Activity and Wrong Turn.




Anyways, stay tuned for this year's "Unseen Terror," wherein I do my yearly roundup of random finds in the horror movie field that I've yet to discover until the month of Halloween has fallen upon us. There's a nice treat and theme to this year's iteration too......