Green Room (R)
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review sites: Bloody Disgusting; Dread Central (Blu-ray/DVD); Modern Horrors; PopHorror
streaming sites: Amazon; Google Play; iTunes; Max; Vudu; YouTube

So, this is one of those movies that I'm not quite sure which subcategory of "scary movies" I should put my review in. I originally went with "psychological horror," but later moved it to "thrillers." And when it eventually gets gory, I could almost call it a "slasher," except that there aren't really any psychopaths or weird gimmicks. It's all rather realistic, which makes it all the scarier. And in fact, the movie probably deserves a higher rating than I've given it, but as I often feel the need to point out, I'm not a huge fan of this kind of movie (which somehow never stops me from wanting to see them). Well, I could spend a whole review psychoanalyzing my relationship to horror movies versus movies in general, but fuck it.

So, there's this punk band called the Ain't Rights, who are touring the country in their van, with pretty much zero funds. Their latest gig gets cancelled because of some problem beyond their control, and the guy who had set up the gig (whom they don't really know), gets them a smaller substitute gig that pays virtually nothing. However, he manages to get them another gig after that, in another city, with his cousin as their contact. Unfortunately, the gig is playing for a bunch of neo-Nazi skinheads, which the band really doesn't want to do, but they're desperate to make enough cash just to pay for gas to get back home to the other side of the country. (They were planning on just siphoning gas, which they're clearly used to doing. And really, they should have stuck with that plan.)

I suppose I should mention the band members. There's Pat (Anton Yelchin), and Sam (Alia Shawkat), and Reece, and Tiger. Before their set, they're showed to a green room. After they're done playing, they go back, but the manager of the venue wants to hurry them out, so their luggage has been moved out into the hall. But Sam had left her phone in the green room, so Pat goes back to get it. Some members of the next band scheduled to play were in there, along with some people who worked at the club. One of the employees, a woman named Emily, had been stabbed. And because Pat saw the body, the manager prevents him and his bandmates from leaving. Subsequently, he calls in the club's owner, Darcy (Patrick Stewart), to come up with a plan to deal with the problem. Meanwhile, the other band goes out and plays their set, while one of the skinhead thugs, Justin, stays in the green room to guard the Ain't Rights, as well as a woman named Amber (Imogen Poots), who I guess was another employee, but had also witnessed Emily's murder, so her employers couldn't trust her.

Well... the five captives grow increasingly frantic, and desperate to escape. Darcy seems pretty level-headed, but also ruthless, and just as desperate to contain the situation. Which basically means killing all the witnesses (preferably without guns), but also coming up with a time-sensitive plan to create a cover story about their being killed after trespassing at a residence a ways up the road from the club. Anyway, like I said, things get gory. And I guess I don't want to reveal any more. But it really is terrifying. And yet, in spite of all the horror, it does end on a rather amusing note.