It's not a movie that I have revisited much, I think I've seen it twice maybe, but as a kid I remember finding the sudden unexpected fate of Ron Perlman's character in Enemy At the Gates shocking and stomach churning in a way I couldn't define. Brilliantly executed and unexpected though. Maybe I should rewatch that movie...
Green Room still feels a lot more frightening considering deep down we all experience existential dread and paranoia. It feels as though this film is capable of exploring heavy-handed themes that not all horror films have all the capacity to showcase in a more or less subtle manner.
I do not agree, this film is super over the top and i find this scene cool because it is the most realistic in the movie, and it is a shocking contrast. Like, i dont see how being hunted by a neonazi-run drug operation can be a day to day stressor.
@@walkinwalker9768 Anarchists, which the band was, definitely do deal with them regularly and are no stranger to fighting them. Especially in the Northwest, where the film takes place. And especially in the 90's, which it appears to take place in.
Great breakdown, but I think you can go even farther. What makes "that scene" special to me isn't only the technique you described-implication and suggestion, abrupt violence, a masterclass in building tension-but also the one-two punch of unexpected violence that manages to catch even hardened viewers off-guard. As you noted, the scene builds and builds to the horrific reveal of Pat's butchered arm. The protagonists manage to close and secure the door, and render the bouncer, who is stuck inside the room with them, helpless. This ostensible climax results in an enormous release of tension for the audience. Which Saulnier immediately follows with an abrupt shot of Amber slicing open the bouncer's stomach with a box cutter. Saulnier weaponizes your relief. It is this second act of unexpected violence that truly subverts the viewer's expectation and makes for an unforgettable, albeit unsettling, memory lingering long after the film has ended.
I would LOVE to see you cover The Eyes Of My Mother (2016). One of the most simultaneously beautiful and terrifying films I've ever seen, using explicit and implied violence. Incredible story telling that left me thinking and made it among my favorite contemporary films to this day.
I'm so glad people are finally finding that movie. Thought I was the only person that had ever seen it for so long. Noone ever talks about it. Now all of a sudden it's popping up everywhere.
Oh god, that was a horrifying film. Just the whole aspect of being a victim not being able to talk, that chilled me to my bone. I saw this film with the director at a Q&A in Prince Charles Cinema. Was a hoot with the audience.
Man, I will never forget the first time I saw those Red Laces. Also walking out of the press screening in like February knowing for sure that that was the best movie I'd see that year and not even being sad about it.
when i first watched this movie, it absolutely traumatized me. it was so good but i physically could not watch it again for years after. i came back to it about a year or so ago, and it was still so difficult to watch that i had to split it into two sessions. this is a beautiful dive into the chaos and terror that is green room.
Green Room is highly underappreciated. You know how some films just captivate you the moment you start watching them, this just happens to be one of them. The eerie cinematography, the writing, and the careful and precise thought being incorporated into the majority of the scenes just astounds you.
This is one of my favorite thrillers of all time! It deserves so much more recognition. Thanks for covering it and making such incredible videos. Cheers!
This is the first movie in a while that actually had me yelling at my tv rooting for the main characters to win. I showed it to my friends and they had the same reaction lol.
Jeremy Saulnier, man. Goddamn. I would highly suggest Blue Ruin to anyone who liked Green Room. And if feeling slightly more adventurous, his first feature length film, Murder Party, isn’t terrible.
Blue Ruin is wonderful, and Murder Party is downright hilarious. Laughed my ass off at many moments. And while the meta-discussion in the movie about art and pretentiousness might, ironically, end up a little too pretentious for some, I think it worked pretty well.
@@viljamtheninja Honestly, it has been a number of years since I sat down and watched Murder Party. I remember it being strange with some dark humor. I had forgotten about the “art project” plot line. Considering it’s been more than a decade since I saw it (*and* it was long before I was comfortable referring to myself as an artist), I should give it another go with a new perspective. Thank you for your comment.
Hold the Dark is fantastic, too. I know it's his more divisive movie, but something about it just sticks so much with me. Well-acted, especially from Wright and Skarsgard, gorgeously shot with this thick air of dread, and the violence is so dry and matter-of-fact. The plot being more obtuse than BR and GR hinders it to a lot of people, I know, but I love it.
@@IchiEyes I’ll have to check that one out. I haven’t been movie-ing the way I used to, for a handful of years now. I didn’t even know Hold the Dark existed. Thank you!
Love this movie. It doesn't get enough attention. I read somewhere that the scene where Werm drags Emily by the knife in her head was something the director had seen in a [prison-maybe] documentary and it horrified with him. So much so that he had to include it into this movie. Saulnier's movies are so atmospheric. They start off dreamy and then you realize its a nightmare.
i hate watching movies like green room, similar to clockwork orange in my head, pretty much all of what happens is both realistic and likely to have happened to real humans. youre watching a snuff essentially and i just cant bring myself to ever be "entertained" beyond admiring the artistic creation of it. That being said green room took me for an absolute ride, i went in blind and was thoroughly satisfied by how the pacing was, so akin to a normal day . the director did a stunning job. they wrapped the movie up in a pretty bow which i wasnt expecting as well so thats a plus to me . also color design was amazing and something i FELT when watching the film
I watched this movie, foolishly, on a plane. I went in it completely blind and hoooo boy. I felt like I was trying to crawl inside myself inside-out in how much I was cringing at everything. It was so, so, so awful and so, so, so engaging. As my 9-year-old niece said when she first rode the Matterhorn sled at Disneyland: I loved it and I hated it, but I loved, but I hated it!
Reason I like your channel and content is it gets me to watch movies I didn't know about or have been holding off on for too long. Thank you very much!
Amazing, that's one of the scenes I didn't even remember. When I think of the movie, so many scenes come to mind that make me shudder. I think the stomach scene is much more disturbing.
ugh thank you! I love this movie so much - I think it's one of the smartest and most effective, and yet understated, horror movies out there. Love your last line - I always that was a brilliant cut.
The arm is awful and will stay with me, don't get me wrong, but what Amber does with the box cutter right after this scene is one of the few things in cinema where I literally can't look at the screen.
2:37 Maaaannnn, 😁 you made me Wooooo, just remembering this scene! If I wasn't already locked in on the movie, this scene did the trick. That had me imagining how horrible that would of been trapped in that tug of war while you're being hacked at.
When I was in college my friends and I would have a movie night on the weekends, and the first time I volunteered to pick a movie I picked Green Room. I was not allowed to pick the movies after that. I did warn them, though. I don’t think they quite realized how bad it was going to be.
I remember seeing this movie in the theater. Including me, it was like 12 people. After the arm scene happened, went from 12 to like 4. I knew at that point I was watching a, dare I say, masterpiece.
I remember when I watched this when it came out I watched it blind with no trailer or anything and I was so on edge. I watch so many movies that I usually don’t get uneasy or anxious like I did with green room. This specific scene made my stomach turn and i felt nauseous for the rest of the film. I put Green Room in high regard specifically for my initial experience with it
This movie absolutely slaps. only reason I discovered it was because I was an Anton Yelchin binge. everyone who likes thrillers should watch this. a horror movie that could absolutely take place in real life and probably similar situations have
Yo Bone Tomahawk is such an underrated movies. It is such a shame that more people dont ever talk about it. It put a huge smile on my face when i heard to mention it.
I really hope Jeremy Saulnier and Macon Blair do another horror thriller like this and Blue Ruin. The atmospheres they created in those two films are suffocating and terrifying.
I had to split watching Bone Tomahawk. It really divided the room straight down the middle as well. One day i hope i have the guts to sit down collect my two halves and finish that scene.
I took my friend to see Green Room because I loved it. During the very “scene” discussed in this video is when the waitstaff brought the checks out to everyone and it totally killed the tension. It was such a bummer.
I don't understand. Wtf are "checks"? You said waitstaff so...Were you watching it at a restaurant? I genuinely, for the life of me, cannot understand what this comment is trying to say.
I saw this movie years ago and it really surprised me. I was in a very similar band growing up and this felt like something that could actually happen.
Green Room is a film, like Liam Gavin’s A Dark Song, that I’ve only watched once despite absolutely loving it. I don’t want to risk losing that sense of awe I got from watching it.
This was one that I was really glad I saw in theaters, has some of the most shocking gore I’ve seen in a movie. And it really felt like any character could die at any moment.
Green Room and Blue Ruin were probably my biggest and most motivating influences for beginning to try to write my own movies. I see now that they have some amount of DNA (arguably) in NWR’s Pusher trilogy, namely that criminals are rarely cool and frequently make mistakes and fail to get away with things or come out ahead most of the time… and that stories like that are much more compelling than the ones where everything works out pretty much okay. If you’re looking for ideas for movies, my short list of things up you’re alley I’m (fairly) sure you haven’t covered: Possessor and Infinity Pool; Raid 2: Barendal; and perhaps Enemy and Prisoners as a Jake G Denis V double feature. Cheers.
I don't entirely agree that stories like that are by default more compelling. In fact, they would not be so compelling *if not for the fact* that stories where things do work out are far more common. Their appeal largely lies in the subversion of expectations, which makes them so much more shockingly effective. That means that their effect on the viewer also to a large extent relies on that viewer's previous experience with cultural and movie tropes that need to prime those expectations in the first place. Now don't get me wrong, I love movies like these, I'm a huge fan of Saulnier and a few other things you mentioned. But I think it should be remembered that movies that find a lot of appeal in subverting expectations lose a lot of that appeal once movie tropes inevitably gradually change. The subversion often ends up becoming the contrived stereotype. Like how the mysterious vagabond Western film protagonist was subverted and deconstructed by being shown as a broken, vulnerable man who hides his tormented self behind a veneer of silent mystique, which soon enough turned into an incredible predictable trope with the inevitable tragic backstory exposition somewhere toward the end of the second act usually. So, point is, both kinds of movies have their merit, and it's always good to be able to switch it up rather than just deciding on doing one specific thing, because otherwise one falls into the trap of predictability oneself.
grew up in the local eugene scene w a lot of friends in bands n when i saw this movie it scared the shit outta me, something bout the violence is so shocking and abrupt that it feels realistic in that way n just seemed like some shit that could fr happen
I watched this movie for the first time really stoned. It was not the best experience, just the feeling of dread the entire time. Great film nonetheless.
Green room is so chaotic and decisions are so dumb that it's really really realistic. It made me think 2 times abt what have i said and seen before, cause i got scared for myself while watching it
Anyone see the movie “the humans” I’ve only seen it once but I can’t tell you how uneasy and unsettled I was by the music and shots the director chose to include in the movie lol. The movie has nothing to do with horror and yet I felt more scared watching that than most horror movies
I saw until you stop it and tell that you could spoil us the movie, so i just watched it for the first time and resumed your video lol PD: Awesome movie
Not to ignore the video I'm about to watch( and I'll edit this post when I make my comment on the video), but I just got the best AFK Journey Ad. I would normally skip as soon as I could, but it was Markiplier. Like, as if he was streaming. I found myself sitting there more interested in the actual game for that moment. I wasn't even upset that it was an ad, I was more surprised than anything.
