Green Room is the third film from writer and director, Jeremy Saulnier and it is pretty much a masterclass of uncompromising, sustained tension. Basically he took a pretty simple story but still managed it to make an intense and suspenseful movie. I was looking forward to watching this one and it didn't disappoint me.

The story arc, like a said, is clean enough - a struggling punk rock band called “The Ain't Rights” takes an unplanned gig after they get screwed over by a promoter and not getting the money that they were supposed to get. They end up in a dive bar full of Neo-Naziz to play this gig and things go south... way south. The movie is brilliantly gory, incredibly well directed and I enjoyed it thoroughly from start to finish. The acting performances were outstanding! The late actor Anton Yelchin gives a solid performance in the lead role, he will definitely be missed. Yelchin has died in a tragic car accident, aged 27 last June. Patrick Stewart takes an interesting turn playing against type as a villain and he plays him with a degree of normalcy that is highly unsettling. At first I thought hard to imagine an actor like Patrick Stewart, a man whose past roles have served as moral compasses for generations of film and TV viewers turned into a utterly villainous but he pulls it off pretty well, just a testament of how good of an actor he is. Alia Shawkat plays a very convincing punk rocker acting as a kind of band leader who keeps the things together.

Green Room is a great film, a beautifully paced and structured tale, one that builds to mini-crescendos of violence, before easing off and beginning to build again. The film is full of suspenseful moments and interesting directing choices and there are no plot twists for twists' sake. In Blue Ruin, Saulnier showed that revenge is pointless, framing violence as what it really is; a disgusting act that ends with blood and a mess. In Green Room, he remains consistent with this view. This is one of the most brutal, gory, thrillers I have seen in awhile. Hard to watch at times but so well made, the cinematography in some scenes was really beautiful but be ready for violence lots of it. Credible violence in an impossible situation, but violence nonetheless. If you can handle realistic gory scenes and are looking for a good thriller, this film will definitely please you.

Green Room is one of the best movies I have seen this year so far. The film is filled with many great performances and unbelievably gory scenes. It's a well directed and genuine thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end. Hard to watch at times but so well made! Jeremy Saulnier continues to exhibit his ability to craft an original approach to dark suspense establishing himself as one of the leading talents in contemporary genre and I can not wait for his next film.