Who knew that punks vs. Nazis would make for one of the most viscerally intense thrillers ever

Rating: 9/10 (1 May 2016)

Let's get into a little background here first before discussing the movie itself.
Like the director of this film, I am a huge fan of the hardcore punk (or more simply hardcore) genre. I am a fan of bands like Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Agnostic Front, Sick of It All, Cro- Mags, Gorilla Biscuits, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Kennedys and the more recent metallic incarnations like Madball, Hatebreed, Earth Crisis and Vision of Disorder. In short, it is characterized by frenetic instrumentals and shouted (and later screamed) vocals. It is not a well known genre as I have a very difficult time finding anyone who knows about it let alone be into it. It's a shame because it has come to define modern day rock and metal music as the genre has influenced very well known bands like Metallica and Nirvana.
I have been to hardcore shows. Because of the lack of basic popular support, hardcore bands are pretty poor and perform gigs in small, dark, dingy bars where they are right next to the audience moshing. Hardcore as a genre has attracted a wide array of audiences of differing ideologies: the straight edgers, the skaters, the vegans, Hare Krishnas and even, unfortunately, Neo-Nazis.
And that is the film's premise. A hardcore band that gets booked into a gig for neo-Nazis and they witness a murder which leads to them being held captive in the green room.
As a thriller, the premise is quite original. And its not really a battle of ideologies between the parties. Yes you have punks and skinheads but both sides are just trying to get through an ordeal as we see with Chekove and Picard. But also as a thriller, its pretty clichéd. The so called protagonists don't make the best decisions when dealing with their captors. But that is OK, since the film wasn't trying to be subversive in that manner. Where it was really effective in was its violence and gore.
There was one particular scene that really affected me profoundly. One character gets his arm savagely mutilated and his fingers broken where the makeup was uncanny. It showed all the deep lacerations and the bone sticking out and the camera did not cut away from it, making the audience collectively gasp. Now I've seen enough violent films, but the acting that accompanied that scene of the character reacting to his situation really unnerved me. Usually in hyper- violent films, the violence has an almost comic tone. Here it didn't. And I swear, this is very true, I passed out momentarily.
This is a thriller that is not meant to put you on edge. It is mean to really put you off balance and make you insanely uncomfortable. This movie is not for anyone with a weak stomach, as I figured out the hard way. We as film audiences have become so fascinated with violence but have never seen a film that lets us soak in the realism. Believe me, If I am to watch this film again, I need to down a glass of whiskey or something before doing so. Yea I'm just gonna watch some cartoons to offset this experience.
Well there you have it. This review went from hardcore punk to ultra-violence. I still hope whoever's reading this has a listen to the bands I mentioned at the beginning. Really hardcore is actually very positive music albeit loud and unclean.