Green Room (Limited Edition) (4K UHD Review)

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Before directing Green Room, Jeremy Saulnier had directed the silly horror comedy Murder Party (2007), before delivering the more serious in tone revenge horror Blue Ruin (2013). Green Room continued this direction and his growth in filmmaking.

The hardcore punk band from DC Ain’t Rights are on a tour in the Pacific Northwest when one of their gigs gets cancelled. The struggling band are about to call an end to the tour when a friend hooks them up with what he says will be a well-paying gig at another bar and they will be the headliner. Pat (the late Anton Yelchin, Star Trek, Hearts in Atlanta), Sam (Alia Shawkat, Arrested Development, Whip It), Reece (Joe Cole, Peaky Blinders, Skins) and Tiger (Callum Turner, War & Peace, Victor Frankenstein) head the club in rural Oregon, and it turns out to be a neo-Nazi bar.

They are uneasy, but they play their gig without incident, even after starting off their set with a rollicking rendition of Dead Kennedys’ “Nazi Punks F*ck Off”. It is after their show, when they retreat to the titular green groom to pick uptheir gear and head out only to find it out in the hallway where the trouble starts. Sam forgets her phone, and they walk in on a dead woman with a pocketknife in her temple. The rotund bouncer (Eric Edelstein) pulls a gun on the band and they find themselves trapped in the green room along with the girl’s friend Amber (Imogen Poots). They are now held hostage as the club owner (a very terrifying Patrick Stewart), the leader of this neo-Nazi group, calls for the “red shoelaces” to come and help him take care of the situation.

Green Room is an intense siege horror with a mixture of gore (at one point someone nearly gets their hand hacked off) and psychological horror. The bogeyman is beyond simply the ideology of the villains here, but the relentless violence and surprising twists and shifts in allegiances when subplots are revealed. And speaking of violence, it is relentless as the band members launch their plan to escape their trap and the attacks and counterattacks begin.

The cast of then relatively unknown and up and comers performed brilliantly with Stewart bringing it all together with his commanding performance as the dangerous ringleader. The gruesome visuals Saulnier delivers are for genre fans with a strong stomach, but his command of the pacing and presentation of the gloomy Oregon atmosphere shows his excellent command of the genre and his ability to dismantle and reorganize the tropes in a fresh way.

Purchase Green Room (Limited Edition) on Amazon UK

The Video

Green Room is presented in a 2.35:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) Dolby Vision encodement. The film was shot on the Arri Alexa in 2K ProRes 4:4:4 so this release would be an upscale to 4K and remaster with Dolby Vision. While the detail does not get much of a bump, the optimized compression and new transfer do offer more clarity and slightly less noise in the shadows. There is excellent nuance in the shadows as well. Where this new release really steps it up is in the Dolby Vision grading that brings new emphasis to the green tint over many of the scenes and the pop in the highlights like flames, the fluorescent lamps, and more.

The Audio

While the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix for Green Room will not be shattering windows or shaking floorboards, it is very well presented with lush surround atmospherics, wide dynamic, and a thick and punch mid-range. The bottom is just hefty enough to offer significant impact to the gunshots and punches and the brief stage performance sequence.

The Supplements

Second Sight’s Green Room Limited Edition release is another from the label that is packed with bonus features and limited edition collectibles, packaged in their high quality packaging with gorgeous artwork.

Limited Edition Contents:

• Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Adam Stothard
• 120-page book with new essays by Eugenio Ercolani and Gian Giacomo Petrone, Alexandra Heller- Nicholas, Josh Hurtado, Jolene Richardson, Shelagh Rowan-Legg and Thomas Watson
• Six collectors’ art cards

Bonus Features:

• Audio commentary Reyna Cervantes and Prince Jackson
• Audio commentary with writer/director Jeremy Saulnier
• Going Hardcore: An interview with writer/director Jeremy Saulnier (1080p; 00:32:08)
• Punk Rock: An interview with actor Callum Turner (1080p; 00:15:45)
• Rocking Out: An interview with composers Brooke & Will Blair (1080p; 00:15:26)
• Going Green: An interview with production designer Ryan Warren Smith (1080p; 00:15:05)
• Nazi Punks F*ck Off: Thomas Caldwell on Green Room (1080p; 00:14:40)
• Archive Featurette: Into the Pit – Making Green Room (1080p; 00:09:57)

The Final Assessment

Green Room is a contemporary horror that has risen to instant cult classic status over the past decade since it was released. It still terrifies. It still shocks. It is still dour and visceral, and now, courtesy of this high quality 4K remaster from Second Sight, the film’s intensity strikes an even more powerful chord. Highly recommended.

Green Room (Limited Edition) Dual Format is out in the UK March 18, 2024 from Second Sight Films

Purchase Green Room (Limited Edition) on Amazon UK

• Rating Certificate: R (for strong brutal graphic violence, gory images, language and some drug content)
• Studios & Distributors: Broad Green Pictures | Film Science | Second Sight Films
• Director: Jeremy Saulnier
• Written By: Jeremy Saulnier
• Run Time: 95 Mins.
• Street Date: 18 March 2024
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: Dolby Vision (HDR10 Compatible)
  • MaxLL: 1591 nits
  • MaxFALL: 200 nits
  • Max. Luminance: 4000 nits
  • Min. Luminance: 0.0050 nits
• Primary Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH