Green Room starts off by introducing us to three piece punk band, The Ain’t Rights, an indie punk band that is relatively unknown unless you happen to be in the scene. They buck the typical trend of musicians trying to make it big by avoiding social media and, as a result, are not the most profitable band.
Willing to take a paying gig wherever they can get it, The Ain’t Rights take off for a show in Portland. Of course, this is supposed to be a horror film, so we know something bad’s going to happen eventually, but what’s unexpected is just how much gore comes from the film. Whereas they could have cut corners and elected to hide the gore, we’re treated to every bloody detail, but not to the point where it’s overkill.
On the contrary, there’s enough of a pause between the bloody moments that allows us to catch our breaths. And the actual build up to the action hits with near perfect timing, coming almost at the point when the audience is about to start wondering when they’re going to start seeing some action.
It doesn’t hurt either to have Patrick Stewart as the stone cold villain who cares only about minimizing his potential for losses.
Picture him playing the role of Magneto instead of Professor Xavier. Calm, cool, collected, and strong. Stewart’s lack of fear or any real emotion as he strategically works to ensure that The Ain’t Rights ain’t able to escape is terrifying in the fact that he can have so little emotion at a time when the audience is kept on their seats.
While the movie itself is standard fare for a horror film, it still succeeds in making an impression due to equal parts Stewart, timing, and gore (which, without it, would have just made the film a standard thriller in the vein of Panic Room).
As the momentum shifts back and forth between villains and Ain’t Rights, the film seems to run much shorter than it’s actual run time of 1 hr 35 min, and by the end, you won’t be sure who’s actually going to make it out alive…if anyone.
Recommended for: Any horror/thriller movie fan.
Green Room opens in theaters everywhere April 15, 2016.
