Green Room (film)

Green Room

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier
Produced by
Written by Jeremy Saulnier
Starring
Music by
  • Brooke Blair
  • Will Blair
Cinematography Sean Porter
Edited by Julia Bloch
Production
company
Distributed by A24
Release dates
  • May 17, 2015 (2015-05-17) (Cannes)
  • April 15, 2016 (2016-04-15) (United States)
Running time
 95 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $5 million
Box office $1.5 million[2]

Green Room is a 2015 American horror thriller film written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier. The film stars Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, and Patrick Stewart. The plot follows a punk band who find themselves at the mercy of a group of neo-Nazi skinheads after witnessing a murder at a remote club in the Pacific Northwest. Filming began in October 2014 in Portland, Oregon. It was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.[3] The film was released in a limited release on April 15, 2016 by A24 Films.[4]

Plot

Pat, Sam, Reece, and Tiger are members of a punk band "The Ain't Rights" traveling through the Pacific Northwest. In Seaside, Oregon, they meet Tad, a local radio host who sets them up with a gig outside Portland, Oregon. On his show, Tad asks the band what their "desert island" band would be; Pat is unable to think of one. They arrive at the club, which they come to find out is actually a neo-Nazi skinhead bar located in the woods. The band perform their set; they jokingly open with a Dead Kennedys cover of "Nazi Punks Fuck Off", which enrages the audience, but are able to win them over with their original songs.

After the show, Sam forgets her cell phone in the green room. Pat goes to retrieve it, and inside finds two of the club regulars, Werm and Amber, standing over the dead body of a young woman, Emily, with a knife in her head. Pat, Sam, Reece, and Tiger are all ushered into the room at the hands of two of the club bouncers, Gabe and Big Justin; Pat calls 911, but is cut off by Gabe. They have their phones taken away from them and are instructed to remain there at gunpoint.

Gabe consults the club's owner, Darcy, who concludes that it's "too late" and the group will have to be eliminated as witnesses. Meanwhile, in the room, the group overpowers Big Justin, and are able to take his gun. Darcy comes to the door, having diverted the police, and asks them to hand over their gun. They reluctantly agree, under the condition they keep the bullets. When they open the door, Reece attempts to attack Darcy with a metal rod, and Darcy and his henchmen slam Pat's left hand in the door repeatedly and stab him with knives, breaking his fingers and mutilating his arm. Big Justin attacks the group but Reece places him in a chokehold. Justin regains consciousness and begins to struggle; Reece tightens his hold, and Amber uses a box cutter to disembowl him to ensure he dies.

The group searches for ways out of the room. They find an underground bunker beneath the floorboards which contains evidence of a heroin operation, but are unable to escape through it. They wrap Pat's hand in duct tape obtained from the bunker. The group agrees to make a run out of the club, and each arm themselves with a weapon. When they exit the green room, they find the club empty, but are attacked by pit bulls who are sent after them by Darcy's henchmen.

Tiger is killed by one of the pit bulls, who tears his throat out, while Sam flees into the back hallway, where she finds a fire extinguisher. Reece attempts to flee out of a back window, but is met by Alan, who cleaves him repeatedly and they leave him to bleed to death. Pat, Amber, and Sam return to the room, and are met by Daniel, another of the skinheads; when Amber explains to him that Werm killed Emily and that Darcy is attempting to blame her death on the band, he decides to help them. They exit the room, and Daniel goes to take a shotgun from underneath the bar, but is shot in the head by a bouncer. Amber uses a mic stand to divert the bouncer's shotgun, and Pat uses a machete to slit his throat. Armed with a shotgun, they attempt to leave, but are shot at by multiple henchmen outside the club. Sam is shot in the leg, and attacked by a pit bull, who kills her.

Pat and Amber, the last remaining, retreat to the green room, and devise a plan. Darcy sends two skinheads into the building to kill them. Pat hides in the bunker, and makes battle cries, leading one of the skinheads to go down after him. While the other skinhead watches him enter the bunker, Amber, who has hidden under the couch cushions, emerges, and slits his throat with the box cutter. After taking his gun, Amber sprays the fire extinguisher down into the bunker, creating a fog, and then one-by-one throws the bodies of Emily, Justin, and the skinhead into the bunker, startling the other skinhead and causing him to waste his ammunition. He and Pat then fight over control of the shotgun, but Amber descends, and shoots him in the head.

Gabe comes to the green room, and finds Pat and Amber; he tells them he wants turn himself into the police, and that Darcy has left to dispose of the bodies. Outside, it is dawn, and Gabe leaves to find a phone, while Amber and Pat flee into the woods. They stumble upon Darcy and his henchmen Alan and Clark disposing of the band members' corpses, staging the scene to appear as though they were killed by dogs while trespassing to siphon gas. They quietly emerge from the woods into the clearing, and confront the three. Amber shoots Alan and Pat shoots Clark, killing them. Darcy turns away and, whilst pulling out a gun, is shot repeatedly by Pat and Amber until he dies. The two then sit on the side of the road and wait for the police to arrive. As they do, Pat mentions that he's figured out his desert island band; Amber responds, "Tell somebody who gives a shit."

Cast

Production

On May 22, 2014, it was announced that Broad Green Pictures would finance and produce the crime thriller film directed and written by Jeremy Saulnier, with Film Science.[5] Anish Savjani, Neil Kopp and Victor Moyers would produce the film.[5] On October 16, Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots joined the lead cast of the film along with some others include Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Joe Cole, Macon Blair and Mark Webber.[6] On October 21, Patrick Stewart was added to the cast to play Darcy Banker, the leader of a violent white supremacist group,[7] while other cast includes Kai Lennox, Eric Edelstein and Taylor Tunes.[7]

Filming

Principal photography began in October 2014 in Portland, Oregon.[8][9] The location for Tad's house was shot in Astoria, Oregon on the Oregon coast, and the forest scenes were filmed in the Mount Hood National Forest.[10]

Release

On October 29, 2014, WestEnd Films acquired the international rights to the film.[11] The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2015.[12] Shortly after it was announced A24 Films had acquired distribution rights to the film.[13] The film has also been selected to screen opening night of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2015.[14]

The film was originally to open in a limited release on April 1, 2016, before opening in a wide release on April 15, 2016.[15] However, it was delayed to April 15, in limited release.[16]

Reception

The film holds a 89% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 140 reviews, and has an average rating of 7.8/10. The critical consensus reads: "Green Room delivers unapologetic genre thrills with uncommon intelligence and powerfully acted élan." [17] Metacritic reports an 79 out of 100 rating based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[18]

IGN awarded Green Room a score on 9 out of 10, saying, "This follow-up to the brilliant Blue Ruin pits a rock band against white supremacists with ace, ultra-violent results."[19] Guy Lodge of Variety called it "a technically sharp backwoods horror-thriller that lacks a human element".[20] Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that it is entertaining but "less disciplined, less original and less memorable work than Blue Ruin".[21]

At the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, the film finished third in the balloting for the Grolsch People's Choice Midnight Madness Award.[22]

References

  1. ↑ "GREEN ROOM (18)". British Board of Film Classification. January 20, 2016. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Green Room (2016)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  3. ↑ "The Directors' Fortnight 2015 selection!". Quinzaine des Réalisateurs. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Jaugernath, Kevin (February 2, 2016). "Watch: Arm-Snapping, Punk Rock, Red-Band Trailer For Jeremy Saulnier's 'Green Room' Starring Patrick Stewart". Indiewire.com. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  5. 1 2 McNary, Dave (May 22, 2014). "‘Blue Ruin’ Director Gets Financing for Thriller ‘Green Room’". variety.com. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  6. ↑ Kit, Borys (October 16, 2014). "Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots to Star in Thriller 'Green Room'". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  7. 1 2 Sneider, Jeff (October 21, 2014). "Patrick Stewart to Play White Supremacist in Crime Thriller ‘Green Room’". thewrap.com. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  8. ↑ Baker, Jeff (October 29, 2014). "Patrick Stewart is in Portland filming a movie with Anton Yelchin". oregonlive.com. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Patrick Stewart begins filming the crime thriller “Green Room” in Portland, OR". onlocationvacations.com. October 29, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Green Room". Koerner Camera Systems. April 12, 2016. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
  11. ↑ Barraclough, Leo (October 29, 2014). "AFM: WestEnd Films Adds ‘Green Room’ to Slate". variety.com. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  12. ↑ Lodge, Guy (May 17, 2015). "Green Room Review:Punks Take on Skinheads in Brutal, Hollow Horror". Variety.com. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  13. ↑ McNary, Dave (August 19, 2015). "'Green Room':A24 Buys Patrick Stewart Thriller". Variety. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  14. ↑ Punter, Jennie (August 11, 2015). "Toronto Film Fest Documentary, Midnight Movies Lineup Revealed". Variety. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  15. ↑ Sneider, Jeff (October 5, 2015). "A24 to release Anton Yeltsin's Neo-Nazi Thriller 'Green Room' on April Fools Day". The Wrap. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  16. ↑ Jaugernath, Kevin (February 2, 2016). "Watch: Arm-Snapping, Punk Rock, Red-Band Trailer For Jeremy Saulnier's 'Green Room' Starring Patrick Stewart". Indiewire.com. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Green Room (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Green Room reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
  19. ↑ Singer, Leigh (May 18, 2015). "Green Room Review." IGN.com. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  20. ↑ Lodge, Guy (May 17, 2015). "Cannes Film Review: 'Green Room'". Variety. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
  21. ↑ Felperin, Leslie (May 17, 2015). "'Green Room': Cannes Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Toronto International Film Festival Announces 2015 Award Winners" (PDF) (Press release). TIFF. 2015-09-20. Retrieved 2015-09-21.

External links

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