IF YOU prefer your films gritty, unpredictable and so tense that you may actually need to remind yourself to breathe at certain points, do not miss writer/director Jeremy Saulnier's punk rock siege thriller Green Room at the Belfast Film Festival next week.
Saulnier is the man who brought us 2013's similarly gripping revenge thriller Blue Ruin, (their colour-related titles are just a co-incidence) an intelligent, surprisingly soulful tale of a young man obsessed with avenging the death of his parents.
In many ways Green Room's taut, stylish masterclass in genre film-making almost feels like it could be his long lost debut feature rather than the third offering from a movie-maker whose star is already in the ascendant.
However, compared to Saulnier's actual debut, the 2007 gleefully splatter-happy horror comedy Murder Party, it's clear that his latest film is part of a tangible upward curve in quality.
Green Room is a high-concept, low-budget thriller that never pulls a single one of its continuous barrage of punches.
It's Die Hard in DMs meets John Carpenter's original Assault on Precinct 13, as unsuspecting punk rock band The Ain't Rights get more than they bargained for when they accept an impromptu gig at a remote club with dubious clientele.
Displaying an authentically selective attitude to the truth, the promoter describes the backwoods dive as a "boots and braces" kind of establishment.
"Play your early stuff, the heavier stuff," is his ominous advice to the young, broke and road-weary Washington DC quartet, whose decision to open their set with a spirited cover of the Dead Kennedys' evergreen anti-fascist anthem Nazi Punks F*** Off will prove spectacularly ill-advised.
The Ain't Rights describe their non-existant profile on social media profile as a way to force fans out of the digital realm and back into 'the real' – however, such lack of 'visibility' also plays into the blood-soaked fists of the homicidal white supremacists running the joint.
When mild-mannered bassist Pat (Anton Yelchin) and his fellow rockers witness something they shouldn't in the backstage area, they find themselves held captive in their dressing room at the business end of a gun along with wrong place at the wrong time local Amber (Imogen Poots).
Outside the door, club owner and top dog neo Nazi Darcy (Patrick Stewart) is deciding their fate.
Hint: he errs on the side of 'grisly death'.
For its first half-an-hour, Green Room is a slow burn. However, think of it as an idling chainsaw – because once Saulnier revs that sucker, he does not let up for a second.
It's only when the mayhem commences that you realise he's already smuggled a ton of clever, crucial character and plot points into proceedings, which become increasingly brutal as the band are forced to fight for their lives.
While it might be trading in genre fare, Green Room is much smarter than some of its more gruesome moments – and there are definitely a few you'll be watching through your fingers – might suggest.
It offers sharply drawn characters behaving in a pretty realistic manner, a gleefully unpredictable attitude to their chances of survival, plus a streak of pitch black humour that peppers the violent chaos with a good few morbid chuckles.
All the actors from bit players to leads are perfectly cast, with Patrick Stewart gamely playing against type without going over the top into porky territory: his fascist kingpin is cooly, calmly terrifying.
Don't miss Green Room at the cinema, because its rollercoaster ride can only be enhanced by the flinch-launched snack foods, shocked shrieks and nervous laughter that are guaranteed to be part of any public viewing.
:: Green Room, Wednesday April 20, QFT Belfast, 9pm. Tickets £6 via Belfastfilmfestival.org. Green Room will be on general release from Friday May 13.
GREEN ROOM (18, 94mins) Crime/Horror/Thriller. Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Patrick Stewart, Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Joe Cole. Director: Jeremy Saulnier
RATING: 4 STARS
