For this year’s 31 Nights of Horror Challenge, the Night 8 prompt is Punks. We watched the movie Green Room (2015) on Netflix.

Storyline

I lived in Portland, Oregon, attended college and played in a rock band in the late 1980s to mid 1990s and this was at about the time of the height of the skinhead movement led by Tom Metzger and his WAR (White Aryan Resistance) movement, which culminated in the murder of an Ethiopian in the city. It was huge news and a major topic of conversation in the music community I was in. This movie fits that narrative very closely. 

For this movie: A punk rock band is forced to fight for survival after witnessing something they shouldn’t have at a neo-Nazi skinhead bar.

‘Green Room’ delivers a relentlessly suspenseful thriller with decent performances, particularly Patrick Stewart’s menacing villain and Anton Yelchin’s lead. The film’s dark, brutal tone and visceral horror craft create terror and edge-of-seat tension throughout. However, some found the writing thin and characters underdeveloped or forgettable, with a few viewers feeling the premise lacked substance. Despite mixed opinions on character depth, the overwhelming consensus celebrates Jeremy Saulnier’s directorial prowess in crafting one of the most intense, nerve-wracking thrillers in recent memory.

Out thoughts on Green Room (2015)

Hot garbage.

In my opinion Green Room is an exercise in pointless violence.

In spite of the inexplicable presence of Patrick Stewart, there’s really nothing to recommend this film. From the dismal, “low life” atmosphere, through to the pointless, often gratuitous violence and the improbable story, that feels stitched together, this is, in my opinion, a real pickled stinker of a film.

Some have called this film a thriller but I’m at a loss to see how it qualifies for that title. I’d say ugly, unlikable, survival horror is probably closer to the mark. Two out of ten from me and mostly for some of the reasonable acting, in an unreasonably weak film

1 out of 10 stars

Trivia 

While the tracks were recorded separately the staged performances, the actors and actress actually performed their songs. Anton Yelchin and Alia Shawkat already knew how to play their instruments, but according to Jeremy Saulnier, Callum Turner had no experience with any sort of music. Joe Cole also learned to play drums, specifically for this movie.

Red bootlaces are mentioned a couple of times, once in reference to people who were allowed to know what was going on, and once when a character earns their red laces. Red bootlace color is an important signal in skinhead culture indicating the wearer has shed blood for the skinhead movement. Racist skinheads will often randomly attack non-whites to “earn” their red laces.