It was the late 80's and a girlfriend and I were driving on the back roads of Ohio. We saw a sign for what we thought was a typical Ohio carnival, not realizing it was the Twins Day festival, the largest annual gathering of human twins anywhere. We stopped in to snag an elephant ear, one of those major tasty big fried dough pastries sprinkled with powdered sugar.

A pair of elderly twins walked by, arm and arm with twin spouses, husbands in matching coveralls and plaid shirts, women in matching calico dresses. That seemed an interesting novelty and we smiled. We passed the second twin-set couple in matching clothes, and the experience turned surreal. After that second couple my brain registered the patterns, and suddenly everywhere I saw matching sets of people. One moment I saw regular festival-goers , and then, like waking from a trance, I  was was no longer surrounded by normal, but by unsettling identical-ness. I felt as if I was in a cross between Invasion of the Body Snatchers and a Felini film. However, short-lived, I was enveloped by a disorienting and wonderful creepiness. Very cool.

I should have been a little faster on the uptake, given I was in Twinsburg, Ohio afterall, but  I was probably too focused on either my girlfriend, or, more likely, the thought of that delicious elephant ear. I am not anti-twin, so  if you are a twin, are married to a twin, or fantasize about twins, don't send me hate mail,  My point is when what you see doesn't match up the reality you expect, it's a funky monkey.

This has little to do with my featured movie other than The Black Room is about twins, but still, it was a pretty good story, right?  I am pleased with my cleverness in snagging an Evil Twin Brewing beer for this post, as there definitely is an evil twin in the movie.

I continually go back and catch classic horror movies I've somehow missed over the years, and The Black Room was one of those. I never tire of hearing that amazing Grinch voice of Boris Karloff, and while I'll cut even a poorly done Karloff movie slack, this is a good one. I'm not sure it's truly horror, but close enough.

The story is a variation of classic folk-tale movies and stories seen throughout the ages. In The Black Room, a prophecy is pronounced in 1700's Europe that a younger twin brother will one day kill the elder, ending the baronial house's reign. The movie, set in 1834, finds twin brothers Anton and Gregor, both skillfully played by Karloff, reuniting after years apart.

The evil twin Gregor, in addition to sporting messy bedhead hair compared to the well groomed Anton, is distinctly different to the point it almost feels like two different actors. These roles are  beautifully played by Karloff, who fully rounds out the essence each. Even when inevitably Gregor impersonates Anton, Karloff's acting is so good that the viewer knows who is who (think Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers).

It's not that Karloff cannot ever do wrong, and maybe it's the 10% Evil Twin Brewing Yin & Yang talking, but Karloff, I love ya', man. I even enjoyed the tremendously silly horror comedy The Boogie Man Will Get You, which pairs two of the best horror movie voices of all times, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. That horror voice-off is only topped, in my opinion, by the horror voice triumvirate brought together by Roger Corman in 1963's The Raven, which brought together Karloff and Lorre and added the smooth tones of Vincent Price. You can watch that movie with your eyes closed but don't, as it's a very fun movie.

While not high art, The Black Room is not camp, either and is a truly satisfying movie to watch. especially since it is shot so beautifully.  It's a perfect blend of quality direction and acting and vintage charm that allows you to both forget you're watching an 80-year-old movie and yet soak in the mystery of by-gone-days of cinema, both at the exact same time.

Evil Twin Brewing Yin & Yang

I guarantee any movie, even one not nearly as good as The Black Room, will watch better with a delicious Evil Twin brew. Selected for this movie was Yin & Yang, a 10% alcohol beer that is a force to be reckoned with. According to the label, the beer is a mix of 33% stout and 67% IPA. It pours dark and is delicious, although know with that impact you're going to get that alcohol finish. This beer was actually brewed for gypsy brewer Evil Twin by Two Roads Brewing  in Connecticut- ("gypsy brewers" don't actually own their own breweries, but work with established breweries to brew their concoctions to release on the world). Evil Twin Brewing makes a variety of incredibly unusual, wonderful, inventive, even irreverent brews, and if you haven't tried them, you must.

In case you think Evil Twin is only a name, know it's based in reality. Evil Twin is brewed by Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergso, a Danish brewer living in Brooklyn, NY. His twin, yes identical twin, brother Mikkel Borg Bjergso, is also a respected and accomplished brewer still living in Denmark, brewing under the Mikkeller brand. There is a tension between the two. This is the stuff of legends.

I know I've posted this in a blog, but seriously, this is all yours as my gift for you to use. Purchase, rent or stream The Black Room, stock up on some amazing Evil Twin and Mikkeller beers, and stun your friends with your thematic ingenuity. Load yourself up on some additional information about the Bjergso brothers by checking out this archived NY Times article. If you invite some actual twins to your movie viewing, than you've truly taken this to the next level If you do, send pics and I'll make sure I feature them on in a post on Fear, with Beer!