“Green Room,” more or less, is the story of an under-the-radar rock band that plays a gig for a group of white supremacists. They stumble upon a murder, and all hell breaks loose. This is the best way to describe it without spoiling too many other details in terms of deaths and players, but it plays a lot better than it sounds (Trailer Below). The cast involved were dedicated, the action was brutal and realistic, and it went against almost all horror stereotypes.

What I really enjoyed about this was that the main characters, heroes if you want to call them that, didn’t fall into any genre stereotypes, and none of them were ‘useless.’ They all had the will to fight and survive, and all tried to, though some ended up being useless (there’s a difference). Sir Patrick Stewart leads the crew of baddies as the owner of the establishment everything is going down in. He’s very weary of anyone leaving the premises due to a secret hidden beneath everyone, and he sets in motion a series of unfortunate events for our protagonists. Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots re-team after a fun romp in the “Fright Night” remake, and get several opportunities to play off each other. If these two aren’t dating in real life they definitely should be. There isn’t your typical love/romance arc in this, which I really appreciated, and the women are never ‘damsels in distress’ as they fight and suffer just as the guys do.

Pacing becomes the only issue I can really think of, which is not a good problem to have when your movie is only 1 hour and 34 minutes long (with credits). The movie starts off pretty slowly, and there’s practically no development of the characters. This slow start is what puts our characters in the position they eventually are in, but something else could have been done to push things along a little quicker. Something a little edgier would have captured the viewer’s attention a lot sooner.

The action/violence in this is great, but there’s nothing over-the-top or truly ‘unique’, but that is a good thing. They really grounded this in reality so all the deaths, fights, etc… are all actually possible, and they aren’t over-glorified. The main characters act in a way believable of those that are scared, but trying to survive. They aren’t all expert brawlers or marksmen, and it shows fight after fight. They panic when you shouldn’t, but that’s what makes it more believable and feel more real.

In the end the pacing in the first half is the only thing you can really knock “Green Room” for, but the characters did have to get to where they ended up somehow. The cast was excellent, the altercations were gripping and grounded in reality, and the final line of dialogue is just priceless. This is definitely a solid entry into the genre, and is easily the best entry we’ve seen this year thus far. 4/5

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