For anyone who is familiar with underground/DIY bands, you've heard the stories about the road. The struggles of getting to the next town with little money or looking for a place to crash. But the one I do hear a lot is the altercations a lot of bands have with the locals. In Green Room, director Jeremy Saulnier brings this nightmare to the screens.
We are introduced to a punk band, trying to get from town to town, so they can play a gig, get paid, and then move on to the next. The band made a stop at Portland (or some other Northwestern town) and met up with the promoter. Sadly the venue that they were booked canceled the show, due to the previous band who played there. But the promoter was able to book them at a diner. Things didn't go that well and didn't make enough money at the door. The promoter was able to help them get another gig so they can get some gas money to drive back home. The only thing is that it's a neo-nazi skinhead bar. The band agrees to play the show and make there way to the gig. Once upon arrival, they meet the staff and are escorted to the green room until there set begins. Once they hit the stage, they start off with a cover of Dead Kennedy's "Nazi Punks Fuck Off". Of course the crowd wasn't having it, so they go to their originals, which the crowd enjoyed more. After their set, they head back to the green room to get their stuff, but see that their stuff is out in the hallway. They grab there stuff and head on out. But one of the band members forgets his cell phone and runs back to the green room. Once he enters, he see's a dead woman laying on the floor with a knife stuck in her head. He then tries to run out and calls 911, but the staff catches him and brings back the whole band back to the green room. Scared that the staff my try to hurt them for witnessing a murder, the band barricade themselves inside the green room while holding the bouncer hostage. The situation would then bring the bar owner and ring leader played by the great Patrick Stewart. The bar owner tries to talk the band to open the door, but the band doesn't trust him, thus frustrating the owner. So later in the night, the bar owner ends the show and have his staff to gather some red lace skins. From here, things start to get intense as the boneheads try to get inside the green room, as the band try to fight them off and look for a escape. Sadly, some will lose their lives as others will be changed by this event.
Green Room does bring out some intense scenes that make you hold on to your seat. And as charming as Stewart's character can be, at the same time he can be frightening. There may not be a lot of bloodshed, but whatever violence they show, it's pretty brutal. Green Room is definitely a movie that fans of action and suspense will enjoy. Especially with today's political environment, I'm sure there are some people who will enjoy some dead neo-nazi boneheads.
