Featured Image Credit: A24
Topics: Horror, Crime, Film and TV
Michael Slavin
If you thought Rebel Ridge was wild, wait till you see what else the director has got up to in the past.
Jeremy Saulnier, the man behind Netflix's latest big thriller, has burst into the mainstream with Rebel Ridge.
A tense thriller, the violence and gruesomeness peaks at the end of the film in an all-out fight with the police, but never really goes beyond the level we are used to seeing from thrillers.
This cannot be said of the American director's earlier films.
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Whilst the Aaron Pierre led cop-drama may be the top film on Netflix, Saulnier’s previous film was an incredibly visceral affair that had some viewers on the brink of throwing up.
The best thing? You can watch it for free.
Saulnier’s last film before Rebel Ridge was nine years ago in 2015, the huge gap in part being due to John Boyega dropping out of his latest movie which delayed production by an entire year.
Star Trek's Anton Yelchin starred in the film before his tragic death - one of the last before his passing at just 27 in 2016.
And opposite him was Patrick Stewart in a rare horror role in which he plays a terrifying villain.
You can see the trailer here:
The film is called Green Room, and it follows a punk rock band who have to fight their way out of a compound surrounded by American Neo-Nazis.
If that concept alone didn’t get you hooked, we do not watch films in the same way.
Joining Yelchin in the band on the non-Nazi side of things is a cast full of now stars before they blew up - Imogen Poots, Joe Cole, and Callum Turner.
With Stewart playing the Nazi-in-chief, the film received rave reviews, with a score of 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and 7/10 on IMDb.
One fan discussing the film on the subreddit r/horror said: “One of the most tense viewing experiences I've ever had.
"Honestly can't remember a movie that had me so on edge the whole time.”
In one Reddit thread discussing scenes that made horror fans want to be sick, one fan replied: “The arm/door and box cutter scenes in Green Room”.
Whilst I won’t spoil the film, you can figure out from context that the scenes in question are exceedingly gnarly.
While another viewer posted in r/horror to say that they have ‘never’ felt so anxious as when watching the film, writing: “I thought my heart was going to explode. It is such an incredibly tense movie that creates an unnerving atmosphere.
“Amazing performances and movie but I felt awful while watching it.”
One commenter replied: “Oh thank you for reminding me of this one! Yes, it was something else and the acting was phenomenal. I loved Patrick Stewart's character, he plays an amazing villain”.
Another commented: “Anton Yelchin was a blast to watch in any movie he was in. We’ve missed out on so much”.
Green Room is available to watch for free on Kanopy.