Director Jeremy Saulnier is quickly making a name for himself as a director who is eager to defy genre conventions. With his breakout film “Blue Ruin,” the filmmaker took a seemingly straightforward tale of vengeance, and turned into a twisty thriller that detailed the nerve-jangling consequences that come with cycles of violence. And his latest, “Green Room,” offers another reinvention of a genre convention. It takes the fight for survival against murderous thugs, and places it inside a punk rock venue run by neo-Nazis, adding an extra layer of danger and dread to the proceedings. Come for Patrick Stewart going against type as the neo-Nazi leader, and stay to watch Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots and more fight for their lives at a gig that goes very, very wrong.
What makes Saulnier such an exciting talent to watch is how he takes clear, cinematic influences and puts his own stamp on them, and one filmmaker that has no doubt been important, particularly on “Green Room,” is John Carpenter. The legendary director’s sense of craft, pace, ability to slowly unfurl nail-biting tension, and also create exciting setpieces, can all be found in Saulnier’s new film. And with “Green Room” now playing across the country, Saulnier honored Carpenter by sharing with us some of his favorite films by the director. Be sure to queue them up after watching “Green Room.”
1) “The Thing” — The pitch-perfect ensemble acting, the tense, mysterious atmosphere and some of the best special effects makeup to ever be featured on screen make this among my favorite films of all time. It also has wonderful matte painting composites and some good old-fashioned stop motion animation. This 1982 classic highlights the “hands on” type of craft that inspired me to pursue filmmaking as an eight year old, kicking up dust in my backyard with a VHS camcorder.
READ MORE: Shawn Levy To Direct Remake Of John Carpenter’s ‘Starman’
2) “Big Trouble In Little China” — Holy shit. What an amazing re-invention of the Western genre. Carpenter’s most fun cinematic undertaking by far, and there’s really nothing else like it on Earth. Or elsewhere.
3) “They Live” — Holy whoopass. A quintessentially ‘80s hybrid action/sci-fi that features one of the best ever on-screen duos (Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David). The themes of consumerism, media consolidation and economic disparity are perhaps more relevant today than they were in 1988. But who really gives a shit about that when you can watch those dudes have the most wonderfully protracted fight scene ever.
4) “Halloween” — Exploitation cinema that offered the “don’t cha just love being scared” experience with such a high level of craft that it crossed over to the mainstream and defined the Slasher genre. From the title, to the score, to the mysterious “Shape,” the key here was elegant simplicity. Moving forward, most Slasher films didn’t quite retain the “elegant” part.
5) “Christine“ — Okay, this wasn’t one of his best films, but I have a fond memory watching this with my dad. We watched it together because it starred not a typical movie star, but a 1958 Plymouth Fury. My dad was a big ‘old car guy’ and he cringed whenever the titular car would suffer on-screen damage during the “kill” sequences. I didn’t understand why he was so upset, since the car fixed itself each time. We then discussed the difference between the finished film we watched and what it took to make the film. “Wait, that was more than one car?!” Ahhh, movie magic.
“Green Room” is now playing at a theater near you.