Green Room (2015)

It's taken me over a week to type up a review for Green Room. I struggled with where to start, what to focus on. That is until I accepted the fact that I'll probably just word vomit and swear a little on this one. In any case, here we go!

First and foremost, this is a goretastic horror film! Absolutely cringe-inducing madness. If it's not already enough horror having dumb ass skinheads running amok, there are dogs here too. Very very very bad dogs.

Premise: A punk band finds they're playing at the wrong show, man. The very wrong show.

There are things about this movie that really tugged at my heart strings though, believe it or not. It takes place in the Pacific Northwest, remote Oregon. As a fellow Pacific Northwesterner this brought out my I Love Camping Here feels.  Additionally, I spent the better part of my 20's going to way too many music shows, traveling with my lead singer boyfriend at the time, and hanging out in nasty, sweaty green rooms. There I was pretty much doing nothing but drinking PBR and getting in the way of band members just trying to get their gear in the door. Such fond, fond memories.

But I've grown up now, preferring to stay home on weekend nights plotting the next couch fort, changed my beers from PBR to fancy pants independent brewery IPAs, and married another musical man who routinely plays Youth of Today, Judge, Gorilla Biscuits, and lost his toenail in a mosh pit a couple years back. In all, watching this film brought out smiles in me where I really did not expect them. Not with this film.

Which brings me to where the smiles stopped and a the EEEGADS began. I saw a news clip where Patrick Stewart, who plays a very very very scary dude in this film, said that as he was reading the script he had to stop and pour himself a glass of whiskey in order to resume. I knew this before going into the film - which is a little bit why my brother and I chose to watch Green Room at the local Sundance theater (you can drink there).

As the superb tension began to mount, I turned to my brother and said, "I'm getting another beer. You need another beer to. I'm getting us both another beer right now." The timing was perfect.

There are visuals here that will likely stick with you for a long time. They are shocking and downright a bloody mess. Excellent horror. This movie is insane, the people are insane, the killings are insane, and in all you'll likely walk out of the theater with a cold feeling.

Green Room is a very smart, sharp, and disturbing film. Not only disturbing because of the nature of the film, but also because people like this exist in the real world - making this place worse because of their existence. I'm looking at you white supremacists, you can fuck right the fuck off.

Recommended pairing: PBR and hold on tight.

I'm not sure of this movie is still in theaters, but if it is where you are then I highly recommend seeing it on the big screen for the full Terror experience. Or use the links under Find It. Watch It. on Horror Habit's side bar to locate where else you can find this feature when it becomes available.