Notable Cast: Anton
Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, Callum Turner, Patrick Stewart,
Macon Blair, Mark Webber, Taylor Tunes, Eric Edelstein
Like most people that I’ve spoken with, my introduction to
writer and director Jeremy Saulnier
came with his critically acclaimed 2013 film Blue Ruin. While not directly horror in many regards, that film
certainly left its mark in many ways and Saulnier almost instantly became one
of the freshest voices in genre filmmaking. The film was so strong and so
critically hailed that his follow up was almost guaranteed to be a film that
met the unblinking and judging eyes of both critics and fans alike. So in a way,
his latest film Green Room is going
to disappoint on some level if it didn’t meet the sheer power and execution of Blue Ruin. To be upfront, it doesn’t and
it’s hard to say that on some level I wasn’t slightly let down by Green Room too thanks to the lofty
expectations I had going in. On the flip side though, the film is still a very
effective and brutal horror thriller filled with tight tension and shockingly
concussive twists that is going to please all genre fans on some level.