Punk's not dead

Rating: 7/10 (23 January 2017)

"Green Room" is a strange movie. It's sort of a horror-thriller, set among the apparently still existent punk subculture. The characters speak in slang that can be hard to follow and keep up with, and at times, it seems deliberately obtuse. Some of the dialogue made very little sense to me, and I was often left struggling to understand what was going on. There's a difference between making a movie sound authentic, and making it sound like a group of cool kids having a conversation in front of you they're determined to keep you in the dark about.
I rewatched the beginning to see if I had missed anything in that crucial moment where the plot really gets going, and of course, I hadn't. Therein lies the problem: the story isn't confusing or complicated. It's just told in a way that makes you think it is. The plot is about a down on their luck hardcore punk band who are siphoning fuel to power their van on a tour through north western America. They take a last minute gig in a venue that is strictly "boots and bracers" – ie. Skinheads, where their choice of opening cover is hilarious.
While there, they see something they shouldn't have, and it becomes clear to them, if not to us, that they're not going to be let out without a fight. There are some things that happen along the way – many things – that add needless confusion to a fairly straight forward story.
The movie does a great job of putting you within the punk subculture, but the basic plot could have been transplanted into any milieu. There's too much incidental detail, and too much story, and these things are at war with each other.