We love our metal here at Metal Injection… but we dig movies too! Welcome to Cinema Fix, a movie guide tailored for the metal faithful. Sit back and relax after a long week of work and/or blast beats and enjoy one of our prestigious film selections. This week's pick is:
Green Room (2015)
Quick Pitch:
A gritty and violent punk rock horror/escape film.
Synopsis:
The Ain’t Rights are a fledgling hardcore punk band just trying to make it to their next gig and enjoy a few beers before tearing up the stage [or restaurant…they’ll play anywhere]. After a sketchy promoter screws the band out of money they’re forced to play a last minute show at a less than desirable venue if they want to earn enough gas money for the drive home: a skinhead bar in the middle of nowhere. In true punk fashion, the band plays n and despite antagonizing the skinhead crowd with an amped up cover of “Nazi Punks Fuck Off,” they manage to make it off stage in one piece. Unfortunately, as they’re loading their gear out of the backstage green room, they witness a gruesome murder and wind up in the middle of an internal power struggle within the Neo-Nazi compound they begrudgingly agreed to play. Now they’re trapped backstage and face certain death at the hands of some very pissed off Nazis unless they can fight their way out to freedom.
Why it’s metal:
Extremity and brutality are two terms that carry a lot of weight in the metal realm these days. It’s not an exaggeration when you hear that Green Room is easily one of the gnarliest and most violent films of the year. People get slashed, mauled and shot and die incredibly agonizing deaths in this movie. Basically, sitting through a viewing of Green Room is an absolute lesson in brutality. Thanks to writer/director Jeremy Saulnier’s punk/metal upbringing, Green Room also offers a gloriously cinematic peek into our grim and brooding little slice of the cultural pie. For a “movie band” The Ain’t Rights put on a blistering and highly believable performance, accurately conveying the passion and energy behind this crazy underground subculture we all love so much that normal audiences might easily dismiss as noise. In Saulnier’s hands, a sweaty mosh pit turns into a dazzling ballet, while the iconic riffs of Obituary and Napalm Death create the most dread inducing elevator music you’ll ever encounter. There’s nothing like watching a bunch of innocent characters contemplate their own mortality with the slow build march of Slayer’s “Waaaaaaaaaaaaar Ensembllllllee” in the background. Prepare yourself for a violent panic attack of a movie set to killer metal and hardcore tunes. What more could you want?
Green Room is available on Blu-ray and streaming on demand now. Check it out and take a moment to honor the film's star, Anton Yelchin, who died last month in a freak automobile accident. He may be better known for his role in the Star Trek reboots, but his performance in Green Room is unforgettable.
RIP Anton Yelchin. 1989-2016.
Suggested listening:
Napalm Death – “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” [Dead Kennedy’s Cover]
For obvious reasons.
