Film No. 33 (2016) May 23rd. 7.10 PM LUNA Leederville.
"Prepare to see Patrick Stewart in a terrifying new light" (An eye catching grab from a promotional poster hanging in a local cinema).
I used to love this genre. The tense horror/slasher film was a guilty pleasure of mine 20 years ago. Films like Southern Comfort (1981)and Die Hard led me through this phase of my cinema going life. These films set new ground for gripping, tense and just a little bloodthirsty drama. There is nothing BIG about Green Room, quite the opposite, it is simply well paced, it keeps one guessing, and will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Meeting a punk band on the road as they try to eke out a living chasing their dream of playing music to meet the tastes of a small minority, for little to no reward, is an unremarkable beginning to Green Room. The drama tightens when they play a gig to some hard nosed skinheads in a rural "dirt hole" of a rag tag bar, suddenly Pat (Anton Yeltsin) find himself in a wrong place, wrong time moment in the bar's green room. It's from here that Saulnier (Blue Ruin) weaves his magic.
Green Room is tense, taut, slightly blood thirsty, surprising, disturbing and most importantly well balanced throughout. While this description would suggest the film relies on visuals to take us on this ride, the script is clever and never cliched. The bulk of the cast are not big names. Meanwhile Sir Patrick Stewart (Darcy) is extremely un-nerving and Imogen Poots (Amber) unexpectedly takes on gladiatorial traits in her role. The story goes, Sir Patrick is very impressed with the cut of Saulnier's cloth. This meant Stewart worked at a reduced rate and got to test himself in a new way.
I've seen it printed that Green Room belongs to the torture porn genre. Well it has shades of TP but for me Green Room has more of a Die Hard triller nuance without the blockbuster tag. 10GUMS.
Meeting a punk band on the road as they try to eke out a living chasing their dream of playing music to meet the tastes of a small minority, for little to no reward, is an unremarkable beginning to Green Room. The drama tightens when they play a gig to some hard nosed skinheads in a rural "dirt hole" of a rag tag bar, suddenly Pat (Anton Yeltsin) find himself in a wrong place, wrong time moment in the bar's green room. It's from here that Saulnier (Blue Ruin) weaves his magic.
Green Room is tense, taut, slightly blood thirsty, surprising, disturbing and most importantly well balanced throughout. While this description would suggest the film relies on visuals to take us on this ride, the script is clever and never cliched. The bulk of the cast are not big names. Meanwhile Sir Patrick Stewart (Darcy) is extremely un-nerving and Imogen Poots (Amber) unexpectedly takes on gladiatorial traits in her role. The story goes, Sir Patrick is very impressed with the cut of Saulnier's cloth. This meant Stewart worked at a reduced rate and got to test himself in a new way.
I've seen it printed that Green Room belongs to the torture porn genre. Well it has shades of TP but for me Green Room has more of a Die Hard triller nuance without the blockbuster tag. 10GUMS.
Ah Chris:
ReplyDeleteWhat with HALLOWEEN [the new one]; I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER; all the SCREAM films - the 1990s were a great era for horrors and slashers whether they were original stories or from books or TV.
Anton Yeltsin!
And Imogen Poots as a gladiator...
So it seems to be a real fave or is it extraordinary for its genre?
And then again we didn't expect DIE HARD to be a blockbuster!
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