Green Room.

  They have ideals, they have their music and they have their code. Sleep on the floor of anyone that will let your band crash.  Load the gear in the van.  Hit every diner, bar and hole-in-the wall that will take you.  Get your cut of the door cover and hope it's enough to gas up the van on the way to the next show.  If it's not you're going to have to siphon your way home.  This is the punk rock life.  This is how music was meant to be.  It means going anywhere you can get your message out, and using any means necessary to put on show after show as long as it's done your way.  In this life, you're lucky to have a room over your head and gas in the van, let alone a green room before a performance.  At least that's what they thought when they decided to take a show hosted by skin-heads.  When they accidentally became witnesses to a crime, their haven became their prison.

   For those of you who aren't familiar with one, a "green room" is a specific room or area set aside in show business for performing acts to relax, gather themselves and either prepare for or wind down from performing.  From the onset of Green Room we are introduced to a very purist punk rock band that is on the road.  They are given a place to crash in exchange for an interview by a fan and rookie punk journalist (Tad), who also lands them a gig.  Unfortunately, the gig falls through and unless they can land another one, their tour will come to an untimely end.  Tad offers to book them a show, but warns them that it's at a facility owned, operated by and filled with skin-heads.  Being in the punk rock scene, playing for skin-heads isn't unheard of, and being low on options they accept the show and travel to the compound.

   They arrive, set up and perform, and despite making their distaste for Nazism known to the crowd, they have a pretty good show.  When they retire to the green room they stumble upon a murder scene moments after the fact.  The band is immediately taken hostage, with little force, so the skin-heads can call in their leader and figure out how to deal with the witnesses.  The rest of the movie is built on the suspense and violence of their attempts to escape, and the discoveries they make about the facility; the real reason the skin-heads can't allow them to leave.

  My first thought while watching Green Room was, "This is punk rock."  The whole feel of the movie is grungy and raw.  The music, the photography, the pacing and so forth, all had a very edgy and punk feeling to it.  The punk rock vibe that the film opens with lends a great feeling of unease once the movie transitions into a thriller.  Green Room fits securely in the psychological horror/thriller genre with the back and forth from suspense to violence.  While I wouldn't categorize this as a slasher flick, there is certainly no lack of violence.  Going into the film with no expectations, I was almost immediately drawn in by the pacing.  Like punk rock itself, Green Room is fast paced, discordant, and laced with nuances that build suspense and discontent.  I think it's these nuances that really give the film character.  For instance, the photography has a slight greenish tint, which I feel brings the audience mentally into the green room with our protagonists by making everything seem greenish to us.  In doing so we are mentally drawn into the movie and connected with band while they undergo horrors, making the horrors subconsciously a part of our reality.

   Along with general affect of the movie, the acting is very well done throughout.  I often draw issue in films of the genre with either unrealistic acting, or unrealistic actions.  There are often occasions in horror movies where I think either, "nobody would do that," or, "why don't they just do this?"  I found most of the action of the characters to be reasonable for the situation throughout, which is important for me to be drawn in.  I was very pleased with the writing of this movie.  Anton Yelchin performed brilliantly, as well as the other protagonists, but even more enthralling was watching Patrick Stewart play the lead villain.  This film was worth watching to see Patrick Stewart say and do things I've never dared to imagine!

   Green Room is a gripping thrill ride! A must-see for punk rock and thriller fans, as well as fans of Yelchin or Stewart! Four out of five stars!

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