MORAL OF THE MOVIE

Our experiences inform our perspectives and how we behave on a daily basis. When we go through a deeply traumatic experience, even our most deeply held beliefs may be shaken and no longer form part of our identities as a result. In other words, it’s okay to change your ideals based on your experiences as you live and learn from them.

WHO I THINK WOULD MOST ENJOY THIS MOVIE

Fans of intense suspenseful movies will get everything they’re looking for in this movie. If you’ve ever wanted more realistic scenarios and characters that act like they would in real life, then this movie is for you.

ADDITIONAL NOTES/COMMENTARY

Green Room is the rare horror-thriller that honestly feels like something that actually happened in real-life. It’s about a punk rock band that is forced to fight for survival after witnessing a murder at a neo-Nazi skinhead bar. Director Jeremy Saulnier calls Green Room the third of his “cluster fuck trilogy” that consists of movies (Blue Ruin and Murder Party) all lead by “inept protagonists”. In other words, Saulnier has set out to highlight the realistic behavior that one would expect of a person in a typical horror-thriller’s dire circumstances rather than the super clever protagonists that often lead these sorts of movies. By doing so, there’s a real grounded sense of reality, which consequently heightens the fear you feel for these characters. With Green Room, there was an ever-growing tension from the film’s inciting incident all the way to when it ends. There’s barely any breaks. Saulnier also has a distinct ability in depicting violence realistically without glorifying it. This realistic gore makes you fear for the characters even more as the consequences become even more menacing. There were several moments in the film that I legitimately winced at because it felt so real. Green Room is the type of horror-thriller that makes you forget you’re watching a movie and feels like a truly immersive experience, which makes it all the more thrilling. Before I conclude, it is worth mentioning how great the performances were in this movie. I gave the acting a green light bulb mainly for two reasons: Sir Patrick Stewart and Anton Yelchin. The main source of the suspense comes from the unpredictable nature of what Sir Patrick Stewart’s character and his white supremacist gang are capable of, so if that doesn’t work, then the movie kinda falls apart. On the other side of things (see what I did there? You’ll get it when you see the movie), Anton Yelchin’s character and his band form the heart of the film. You hope they can get out of their particular predicament, but you fear that Sir Patrick Stewart’s gang will get to them first. Again, if that doesn’t work, then the movie falls apart. This was actually one of the last movies that Yelchin released before he tragically passed away at the age of 27, and it’s all the more tragic as you can see the sheer amount of acting talent that he had in his performance in this movie. His character made the movie for me as the performance contained a humanity that most horror-thriller blockbusters lack. In the end, Green Room delivers thrill-seekers an immersive tension-building experience full of realism and great performances that make it all the more exhilarating.