*Originally written April 20th, 2016*
I was so happy to find out that Odeon were doing an "Odeon Scream Unseen", a chance to preview upcoming horror films a month or so early. I had my guesses that this month's was going to be Green Room, a film I've had on my radar for a while now and it was excellent. A tense, gory and extremely violent thriller from the guy who brought us the vastly underrated 'Blue Ruin' a couple of years ago.
After performing a gig at a neo-nazi venue, Green Room finds a band fighting for survival after witnessing a murder where the head of the gang wants no witnesses left.
This was tense and brutal throughout and did not disappoint at all. The violence is extremely graphic and had a really creative use of a box cutter that was very disgusting. None of this felt over the top or too much, it was grounded and hard-hitting.
It also looked gorgeous. The cinematography was creative and fun, despite the mostly one location setting. The music was pretty good too, despite the underground punk heavy metal thing not really being my thing, I felt it was used well here and I didn't mind some of the songs the band briefly played.
Most the characters are likeable, if underdeveloped. Imogen Poots was the real star for a film for me, an actress I like more and more every time I see her. Everyone else was fine. Patrick Stewart was an inspired against-type casting choice as the leader of the gang, who was genuinely frightening and unsettling to watch. I really hope he goes for more bad guy roles in the future.
There were some darkly comedic moments that were pretty funny, despite the chaos and insanity going on around the characters. The last line of the film was also a decent punchline to a running gag throughout the run-time.
I'm just glad we've finally got a decent horror film this year. We usually get one or two and Green Room is one of those. Although it feels more like a thriller than a horror, I feel it filled the criteria needed for a genre-slasher film.
Green Room is more than likely going to be the best horror film of the year, a tense, violence and brutal genre mash of punks vs skinheads with two great performances from Imogen Poots and Patrick Stewart.
10/10 Dans
Green Room is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:
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