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Horror

Maybe We Won't All Die

On First Acts, Violence, and Sieges

Tom Humberstone

• 4 min read
Maybe We Won't All Die

Green Room (2015) Dir. Jeremy Saulnier

A punk band find themselves trapped in a green room by neo-nazi skinheads after witnessing a horrific crime.

“We're not keeping you here, you're just staying.” - Gabe

Green Room is Writer/Director Jeremy Saulnier’s third film in what he has called his “Inept Protagonist Trilogy” (sometimes also called the “Clusterfuck Trilogy”). As with Murder Party and Blue Ruin, his characters in Green Room are unprepared for the grim, dangerous realities of being unwitting stars of a genre film. 

Generally speaking, horror films stick to a tight 90 minutes. The success of the second and third act rests on how quickly and precisely the film is able to build a bond between the audience and the protagonists. If you don’t care about the characters in some way, you’re not going to be scared on their behalf. As many people have pointed out - horror films are empathy machines and too many horror films forget this. 

Saulnier doesn’t. Within the first twelve minutes, and with minimal dialogue, he establishes the band, their interpersonal dynamics, and their individual idiosyncrasies. You’re not strictly supposed to like them all. But you know them. I think Saulnier’s time in punk/hardcore bands helps here. His romanticism of the life of a touring punk band is palpable and every time I sit down to watch the film, a part of me just wants to watch that movie. Desperately hoping they don’t take the fateful gig that will prove to be their last.

I think that might be a good rule of thumb for the success of the first act of a horror: would you want to watch the version of the film where nothing bad happens? 

When the shit does hit the fan, the film is unrelenting in ratcheting up the tension. Saulnier’s decision to make his protagonists act like anyone would in stressful, dangerous situations is key here. The band are scared. Terrified. When they see an act of violence they cry in shock. The brutal and memorable Arm Scene is as potent as it is not just because of the gore and prosthetics - the power is in the reactions of the cast. They wear the panic and trauma on their faces and we feel it.

"On the page, it was easy to misinterpret, like a slasher movie, a quote-unquote torture-porn film, but that was antithetical to what I was trying to do…” - Jeremy Saulnier

Violence in Saulnier’s films is sudden, pragmatic and unsentimental. He uses it sparingly to make it count, and when he does, you wish he hadn’t. Death is swift and often off-screen. Unheroic. Grim. He makes you realise how cinematic violence desensitises us to the horrific reality of it. But without doing so in a way that makes the film unbearable to watch or feel like a lecture.

While the film can be enjoyed as a tense, single location, ensemble siege thriller - I don’t think the punk setting is purely aesthetic or a nostalgic choice on Saulnier’s part. The band are facing off against neo-nazi skinheads here. On one level we could read this as a simple allegory about how white power skinheads co-opted the punk scene and how anti-fascist punk movements continually need to fight back and reclaim the space. On another level, the film came out in 2015 - a year before Trump’s victory in the US election - and the film is clearly shining a light at something unexamined about the undercurrent of fascism in America.

A quick note about the cast. Anton Yelchin is reliably excellent and his compelling magnetism on screen just shows how much of a loss his tragic death was. The rest of the band is great and there’s a lovely clip of them playing as The Ain’t Rights at the wrap party that you can find on the Making Of featurette (see below). 

If you were looking for a slightly lighter starter. Don’t let all the talk of violence, death and brutality put you off. There’s beauty in this film too. A film like this doesn’t work without contrast and Green Room really uses the majesty of the Pacific Northwest countryside to its advantage. 

“Please tell me those stupid fucking words are his last!” - Amber
Where can I watch it in the UK?

You can stream it for free on FreeVee or rent it for £3.49 on YouTube/Google/Amazon/Apple.

Pairs well with

I don’t think it’s possible to discuss siege films without talking about John Carpenter. He’s the king of a siege. I think his first major film (Dark Star being his student film) Assault on Precinct 13 (1976, dir. John Carpenter, available to stream for free on NowTV, ITVX and Shudder) is still one that a few people sleep on.

Precinct 13 is Carpenter trying to take a classic Western siege like Rio Bravo and place it in a contemporary urban environment. It’s set in a defunct police station being run by a skeleton staff when the precinct comes under attack by a gang who are out for blood.

If you can overlook the copaganda, it’s brilliant and you should watch it. The soundtrack is worth it alone. 

Further Reading
Other Recommendations
  • Welcome to the first Grave Offerings! I’ll be listing general Halloween/Spooky Season/Horror related recommendations here every day so please email/message me if you have a spooky event/screening/podcast/book launch/endorsement that you’d like me to share here.
  • To get the ball rolling, I thought I’d recommend the YouTube channel Scaredy Cats. A fun channel run by Thought Slime which usually has thoughtful reviews of horror films or short explorations of horror trends. This video asking the question: What Even Is Horror? is a good place to start.
  • Eerie - the new horror fiction podcast produced by The Final Girls’ Anna Bogutskaya and others - looks perfect for Spooky Season. With short stories from authors like Julia Armfield, Alison Rumfitt, and Kirsty Logan. The first episode is out tomorrow, with two new episodes released weekly on Mondays and Fridays until October 27th.