Green Room
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Year Released: 2015
Rating: 2.0
A punk band called "The Ain't Rights" (consisting of Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole and Callum Turner) play a gig at a remote bar that is full of Neo-Nazis (they're run by Patrick Stewart, in a very uncharacteristic but strong performance); the band discovers a murdered girl in the dressing room and then everyone panics and goes ultraviolent (shotguns! people-eating dogs! box-cutters!). Between this and Blue Ruin, it's interesting to see Saulnier bringing back the grindhouse/exploitation movie - except with more artistry and dread - but this project of his could have used a little more substance: nihilism is not an 'ideology' that leads to anywhere promising. It's tense, though, and I like the cryptic dialogue delivered by Stewart and his followers (echoing Yelchin's paintball story about the war vets and their 'codes'); Imogen Poots is fantastic playing against type (the lady knows how to use a shotgun!).
