You might feel like your heart is going to pound its way through your chest, almost to the very last scene of writer/director Jeremy Saulnier's riveting third full-length feature Green Room (A24/Broadgreen), but it's only a movie. Because of that, the film takes its place at the head of the class of the new generation of horror/suspense flicks such as The Witch, It Follows and The Babadook.
The Ain't Rights, a young punk band from the Washington, DC (Arlington, actually, as one member points out) are scrambling to survive on tour, reduced to siphoning gas from other cars to fuel its van and playing shows to small crowds in Mexican restaurants. To make up for the latter, the quartet – Pat (Anton Yelchin), Sam (Alia Shawkat), Reece (Joe Cole) and lead vocalist Tiger (Callum Turner) – accepts an offer to play a better-paying opening act matinee gig from mohawked journalist/show promoter Tad (David W. Thompson), at a club where his cousin Daniel (Mark Webber) and Daniels' girlfriend Emily (Taylor Tunes) are employed.
Warned that the crowd might be a little on the right-wing skinhead side, the band is unprepared for how far to the right the white-power patrons lean. However, the swastika and SS graffiti and stickers emblazoned on the walls of the green room give them a better idea. Being the punks that they are, the Ain't Rights open their set with the Dead Kennedys "Nazi Punks Fuck Off," which, as you might imagine, doesn't go over well with the crowd. Can things possibly get worse? You betcha!
Just as the band is about to load out its equipment, Pat pops into the green room to fetch the mobile phone Sam left to charge, only to discover that Emily has been murdered. Her body's surrounded by the members of the headlining band, as well as bouncer Big Justin (Eric Edelstein) and her friend Amber (Imogen Poots). An attempt to dial 911 goes awry and suddenly the band, along with witness Amber, finds itself being held captive until club owner and Fuhrer-figure Darcy (an ominous Patrick Stewart) arrives to straighten out the situation in his distinctive and destructive fashion.
What follows is some of the most exhilarating suspense and stomach-churning gore to hit the screen in a long time. Handguns, shotguns, box cutters and machetes all play supporting roles. A pack of pit-bulls, trained to mutilate by Werm (Brent Werzner), also play a prominent part, although Green Room's comment on the loyalty of dogs is as touching as it is terrifying.
Perhaps what's most remarkable about Green Room is its prescience. Filmed before unstable Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had fully ignited his hateful following, Green Room is equal parts message movie and horror story. Trump supporters give it three Ks!