''Green Room'' is a 2015 American horror-

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, and produced by Neil Kopp, Victor Moyers and Anish Savjani. Starring

Anton Yelchin Anton Viktorovich Yelchin ( rus, Антон Викторович Ельчин, p=ɐnˈton ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtɕɪn; March 11, 1989 – June 19, 2016) was an American actor. Born in the Soviet Union to a Russian Jewish family, he emigr ...

Imogen Poots Imogen Gay Poots (born 3 June 1989) is an English actress and model. She played Tammy in the post-apocalyptic horror film ''28 Weeks Later'' (2007), Linda Keith in the Jimi Hendrix biopic '' Jimi: All Is by My Side'' (2013), Debbie Raymond in t ...

, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole,

Callum Turner Callum Robilliard Turner (born 15 February 1990) is a British actor and model. He is known for his roles as Theseus Scamander in '' Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'' and '' Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore'', Bill Rohan in ...

and

Patrick Stewart Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor who has a career spanning seven decades in various stage productions, television, film and video games. He has been nominated for Olivier, Tony, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actors ...

, the film focuses on a punk band who find themselves attacked by neo-Nazi skinheads after witnessing a murder at a remote club in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Thou ...

. The film came from Saulnier's desire to direct a thriller set in a green room. Principal photography took place during October 2014 in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

. The film was financed and produced by Broad Green Pictures. ''Green Room'' was screened in the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festi ...

section at the

2015 Cannes Film Festival The 68th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 May 2015. Joel and Ethan Coen were the Presidents of the Jury for the main competition. It was the first time that two people chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers each received a separate ...

. At the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, the film finished third in the balloting for the Grolsch People's Choice Midnight Madness Award. The film began a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...

on April 15, 2016, before being widely released on May 13 through A24. It appeared on many critics' lists as one of the best films of 2016 and received a 2017 Empire Award nomination for Best Horror, but grossed just $3 million against a budget of $5 million.

Plot

D.C. punk band the Ain't Rights—Pat, Sam, Reece, and Tiger—are travelling the

, low on funds. After their gig is cancelled, a radio host arranges a new show in a rural area outside Portland through his cousin, Daniel. Arriving at the venue, they realize it's a neo-Nazi skinhead bar and they're opening for an NSBM band, Cowcatcher. They go ahead with the show anyway. During their set, Pat notes two young women, Emily and Amber, looking disturbed and being shepherded out of sight. As the band is about to leave, Pat returns to the bar's green room to retrieve Sam's cellphone, where he stumbles upon Amber and the members of Cowcatcher standing over the body of Emily, who's been stabbed to death by Werm. Pat calls the police as he flees, but is caught, and bar employees Gabe and Big Justin capture the rest of the band and confine them in the green room with Amber. Gabe pays one young skinhead to stab another to create a cover story for the police who respond to Pat's call. He consults with the bar's owner, skinhead leader Darcy, who decides all witnesses need to be eliminated. He arranges for Cowcatcher to be gifted poisoned heroin, while more skinheads assemble at the bar, waiting until nightfall to kill the band and Amber. The band overpowers Big Justin and holds him hostage, taking his pistol and a

boxcutter A utility knife is any type of knife used for general manual work purposes.Peterson, Harold L., ''Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World'', London: Herbert Jenkins Ltd., , p. 1 Such knives were originally fixed-blade knives with du ...

from his pocket. They negotiate through the door with Darcy, who asks them to surrender the pistol. Pat agrees, on the condition that they keep the bullets, but when he opens the door, the men attempt to force their way in while slashing at his arm. They manage to close the door, but Pat loses the gun and is seriously injured. Big Justin attempts to break free, leading Reece to choke him unconscious. Amber slashes Big Justin's stomach open with the boxcutter. The band tears up the floorboards and discovers a drug lab under the bar, but the only exit is locked from the outside. Arming themselves with improvised weapons, they attempt to fight their way out. Neo-Nazi Clark unleashes a fighting dog which kills Tiger. Amber and Pat drive the dog away with microphone feedback. Reece escapes through a window, only to be stabbed to death by Alan. Pat, Amber, and Sam retreat to the green room. Daniel arrives and Darcy sends him in to kill the remaining survivors, claiming they murdered Emily, his girlfriend. However, he instead talks to them, and Amber explains that Werm murdered Emily after discovering she and Daniel were planning to leave the skinhead life. Daniel agrees to help them escape, but as they venture back out into the bar, he is shot dead by the bartender. Pat kills the bartender and the group takes his shotgun, only to find themselves confronted by the full skinhead force. Sam mortally wounds Clark's dog with the shotgun before it kills her, and Amber is shot as she and Pat once again retreat to the green room. With the sun rising soon, Darcy has most of the skinheads disperse, taking Clark and Alan with him to stage the band's deaths to make it look as if they were killed while trespassing on his property. Gabe prepares to clean up the bar, while Jonathan and Kyle are dispatched with the dog to finish off Pat and Amber, who formulate a plan for a last stand. They again use microphone feedback to scare off the dog before Pat lures Jonathan into the drug lab. As Kyle stands watch in the green room, Amber emerges from under the cushions of the couch and ambushes him, cutting his throat with the boxcutter. Pat and Jonathan fight, and Amber sneaks up and shoots Jonathan in the head. Gabe enters the green room to find his companions dead, and surrenders to Pat and Amber. Holding Gabe at gunpoint, they trek through the woods. As they near Darcy's house, Pat and Amber decide to go after him, while Gabe goes to a nearby farm to call the authorities. Pat and Amber kill Clark and Alan before confronting Darcy. Fleeing, Darcy pulls a revolver but is shot dead. Their ammunition gone, Pat and Amber sit on the side of the road. They are at first shocked to see Clark's dog, expecting it to attack. They see it mournfully lay near Clark's body. They leave the dog be, not seeing it as a threat. Energy spent, they wait for the police.

Cast

as Pat, the bassist of the Ain't Rights *

as Amber, Emily's friend * Alia Shawkat as Sam, the guitarist of the Ain't Rights * Joe Cole as Reece, the drummer of the Ain't Rights *

as Tiger, the singer of the Ain't Rights *

as Darcy Banker, the leader of the skinheads * Macon Blair as Gabe, a skinhead and club employee * Mark Webber as Daniel, a skinhead and Tad's cousin in a relationship with Emily * Kai Lennox as Clark, a skinhead and dogfight breeder *

Eric Edelstein Eric Edelstein is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the role of Bobby Mallison in '' Shameless'', Chad in '' Clarence'', B.O.B. in the ''Monsters vs. Aliens'' television adaptation, and Grizzly "Grizz" in ''We Bare Bears ...

as Big Justin, a skinhead bouncer *

David W. Thompson David William Thompson (born July 21, 1994) is an American actor known for '' Win Win'' (2011), '' Blue Ruin'' (2013) and ''Green Room'' (2015). He plays Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow in the Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous ma ...

as Tad, a radio host and promoter * Brent Werzner as Werm, a member of Cowcatcher * Taylor Tunes as Emily, a female skinhead and Amber's friend * Samuel Summer as Jonathan, a skinhead * Mason Knight as Kyle, a skinhead * Colton Ruscheinsky as Alan, a skinhead * Jacob Kasch as the bartender

Production

The film came from Saulnier's desire to create a thriller set in a green room, calling the idea "an obsession". Saulnier created a short film set in one as part of a 48-hour film challenge in 2007 which involved the

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

and according to Saulnier was "Really kind of fun and hammy." However, he still wanted a chance to do his green room movie "the right way". Although the film features a large amount of violence and what Saulnier calls "full frontal gore", he has gone on record as stating that it is not "sadistic", and that every act of violence apart from the initiating incident is done with a reason. As such Saulnier made sure that there were no "gratuitous close ups" of recently deceased characters. On May 22, 2014, it was announced that Broad Green Pictures would finance and produce the film directed and written by Jeremy Saulnier, with Film Science. Anish Savjani, Neil Kopp and Victor Moyers would produce the film. On October 16,

and

joined the lead cast of the film, along with Alia Shawkat,

, Joe Cole, Macon Blair and Mark Webber. On October 21,

was added to the cast to play Darcy Banker, the leader of a violent white supremacist group, while other cast includes Kai Lennox,

and Taylor Tunes.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

began in October 2014 in

. The location for Tad's house was in

Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the northwest corne ...

, on the Oregon coast, and the forest scenes were filmed in the

Mount Hood National Forest The Mount Hood National Forest is a U.S. National Forest in the U.S. state of Oregon, located east of the city of Portland and the northern Willamette River valley. The Forest extends south from the Columbia River Gorge across more than of f ...

Music

Saulnier, who used to play in a

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier p ...

band called "No Turn on Fred," wanted the film to "stand the test of real musicians scrutinizing every frame." He enlisted Hutch Harris of American

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...

band

The Thermals ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

to teach the actors the musical parts that they would be performing onscreen. The film's soundtrack is largely populated by heavy metal artists like

Midnight Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours ...

rather than white nationalist bands. Saulnier says that he wanted the club to have a

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a prec ...

-like atmosphere, but that he had no intention of financially supporting white nationalist artists.

Soundtrack

In addition to the songs appearing on the soundtrack, ''Green Room'' features several other punk and metal tracks, including

Fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...

's " Legalize Drugs" (1995),

Napalm Death Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in 1981 in Meriden, West Midlands. None of the band's original members has been in the group since 1986. But since '' Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitc ...

's " Suffer the Children" (1990),

Obituary An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...

's " Paralyzed with Fear" (2014), Poison Idea's "Taken By Surprise" (1990),

Slayer Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical styl ...

's " War Ensemble" (1990), and

Bad Brains Bad Brains are an American rock band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1976. Originally a jazz fusion band under the name Mind Power, they are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this t ...

' " Right Brigade" (1982).

Release

Box office

On October 29, 2014, WestEnd Films acquired the international rights to the film. The film had its world premiere at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

on May 17, 2015. Shortly after, it was announced A24 had acquired distribution rights to the film. The film screened on opening night of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, on September 10, 2015. The film was originally to open in a

on April 1, 2016, before opening in a

wide release In the American motion picture industry, a wide release (short for nationwide release) is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across the country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical r ...

on April 15, 2016. However, it was moved to April 15, in limited release, and May 13 wide. According to

Box Office Mojo Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon. History Brandon Gray be ...

, ''Green Room'' opened at #30 in its limited release, premiering in 3 theaters, culminating over $87,984. In its official wide release, the film premiered at 777 theaters, taking the #16 rank on opening weekend, and grossing more than $411,376.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

the film holds an approval rating of 90% based on 245 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "''Green Room'' delivers unapologetic genre thrills with uncommon intelligence and powerfully acted élan."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

reports a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Richard Roeper of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

'' praised Patrick Stewart, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat and Macon Blair's performances and called the film "a wonderfully nasty, gruesome, jagged-edge gem of a horror film" that has "first-rate" cinematography, set design, soundtrack, and editing. Barry Hertz of ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' awarded it a full four stars and wrote, "Jeremy Saulnier (Murder Party, Blue Ruin) continues one of the best streaks in independent horror with this terrifying and inventive thriller." Lenika Cruz of ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' said it's "a tense gore-fest, one that’s as grimy and claustrophobic as the titular room. But scrape off the scum, and you’ll find Green Room full of visual artistry, dark humor, smart writing, and glints of humanity". IGN awarded it a score of 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." Jeffrey Bloomer of ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' favorably compared the film's "genre maturity", "amoral survivalism and malleable sense of good and evil", "brutal efficiency" and "weary humor" to

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

's '' Assault on Precinct 13'' and praised the cast, writing "If the world knows any justice ..then the Screen Actors Guild will remember this cast when it doles out its awards next year". James Berardinelli concludes the film is "for anyone who enjoys sitting through 90 tense minutes and feeling the attendant adrenaline rush. It’s like a well-constructed horror movie" that's "As intimate as it is unnerving". Guy Lodge of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it "a technically sharp backwoods horror-thriller that lacks a human element". Leslie Felperin of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' wrote that it's entertaining but "less disciplined, less original and less memorable work than ''Blue Ruin''".

Accolades

Top ten lists

''Green Room'' was listed on many film critics' top ten lists. * 2nd – Josh Bell, ''

Las Vegas Weekly ''Las Vegas Weekly'' is a free alternative weekly newspaper based in Henderson, Nevada, covering Las Vegas arts, entertainment, culture and news. ''Las Vegas Weekly'' is published by Greenspun Media Group. The paper was founded in 1992 by James ...

'' * 3rd – Nick Schager, ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'' * 3rd – Jesse Hassenger, '' The A.V. Club'' * 4th – Eric D. Snider, ''

Salt Lake City Weekly ''Salt Lake City Weekly'' (usually shortened to ''City Weekly'') is a free alternative weekly tabloid-paged newspaper published in Salt Lake City, Utah. It began as ''Private Eye''. ''City Weekly'' is published and dated for every Thursday by ...

'' * 4th – A.A. Dowd, '' The A.V. Club'' * 4th – Katie Rife, '' The A.V. Club'' * 4th – Rob Hunter,

Film School Rejects Film School Rejects is an American blog devoted to movie reviews, interviews, film industry news, and feature commentary. It was founded by Neil Miller in February 2006. The site was nominated for Best News Blog by ''Total Film'' magazine and n ...

* 5th – Steve Davis, ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

'' * 5th – Noel Murray, '' The A.V. Club'' * 5th – Jacob Oller,

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...

* 5th – Alan Zilberman, rogerebert.com * 6th – Andrew Wright, ''

'' * 6th – Mark Dujsik, rogerebert.com * 7th – Marc Doyle,

* 7th – Haleigh Foutch,

Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators. Colliders are used as a research tool in particl ...

* 7th – Jen Yamato, ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'' * 7th – Sean Mulvihill, rogerebert.com * 8th – David Chen,

/Film ''/Film'', also spelled ''Slashfilm'', is a blog that covers movie news, reviews, interviews, and trailers. It was founded by Peter Sciretta in August 2005. Podcasts Six podcasts have run on the site. ''The /Filmcast'', hosted by David Chen, D ...

* 8th – Jacob Hall,

* 9th – Josh Kupecki, ''

'' * 9th – Robert Horton, '' Seattle Weekly'' * 9th – Jason Bailey, ''

Flavorwire ''Flavorwire'' is a New York City-based online culture magazine. The site includes original feature articles, interviews, reviews, as well as content recycled from other sources. ''Flavorwire'' describes themselves as "a network of culturally co ...

'' * 10th – Vince Mancini,

Uproxx ''Uproxx'' (stylized in all caps) is an entertainment and popular culture news website. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater, and acquired by Woven Digital (later renamed Uproxx Media Group) in 2014. The site's target audience ...

Home media

Lionsgate, as the home media distributor of A24 releases, released ''Green Room'' on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

and DVD on July 12, 2016. The end credits of the film's home media and subsequent releases feature an addended dedication to the memory of star Yelchin, who died on June 19, 2016. End credits read: "''In loving memory of our friend, Anton.''"

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Green Room 2015 films 2015 horror films 2015 horror thriller films American independent films American horror thriller films Films directed by Jeremy Saulnier Films shot in Oregon Films shot in Astoria, Oregon Films shot in Portland, Oregon Films set in Oregon 2010s psychological films Films about neo-Nazism Siege films American survival films Broad Green Pictures films A24 (company) films Punk films 2015 independent films Skinhead films Films about musical groups 2010s action horror films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films