My last post discussed Karloff's The Black Room, so to continue the color room tour let's head to The Green Room, connected to a redrum. Too much? I'l stop.

The "green room" obviously isn't referring to wall color, though, but where performers chill when not on stage. In this case, the chillers are four friends in a punk rock band called The Ain't Rights. Short on cash and desperate for gigs. against their better judgment they take a last minute gig at a hardcore club at a white supremacist skinhead encampment. Following the show, the band stumbles across a murder and that bad luck gets them trapped in a really bad situation.

While there are no supernatural elements or a bizarro villain like Jigsaw from the Saw franchise, since a machete comes into play in ways far removed from clearing brush, I'll toss this tense thriller-drama into the horror genre. By the way, as a complete contrast, I paired this movie with a green-labeled opposite, a Goose Island Fulton & Wood Series Calm Radler! You'll need a bit of calming influence for the nerves during this movie, and while this beer is definitely not punk rock, I don't do Rolling Rocks or PBR's any more.

In looking at the description for this 2016 thriller from director Jeremy Saulnier, I almost passed, fearing it would probably fall into cliches. I decided to watch, however, knowing Sir Patrick Stewart would play the heavy, which I hadn't seen before. (He did play Ahab in Moby Dick, but that wasn't exactly a bad guy). Since he is selective in his roles, I figured there had to have been something in the story to draw him in. There was, and when he uses that calm Jean Luc Picard voice to deliver menacing lines, it's terrifying.

This movie could have chosen to show stereotypical, one-dimensional bad guys and left it at that. It would have been that easy, and how a less talented director likely would have designed the story. Little in this movie, though, is done because it's easy. Instead of simply creating easy-to-hate generic skinheads, The Green Room hints at layers and depth so you feel you are seeing real people with real backstories. Related to this, you aren't given annoying expository lessons in punk rock history or skinhead culture. Instead, the viewer is dropped into a dark yet believable world, and while details are there if you want them, they aren't shoved in your face. Conversations are balanced, authentic without being random, intense or humorous without being contrived. While the characters reveal personalities in conversations, it's not through phony lines that only serve a purpose to "tell" their history and spell out their motivations. People don't talk that way.

And getting the conversations right was critical. Because much of the movie takes place in a single room, of course there's talking. While this movie has many incredibly stress-inducing action scenes, the mood is also created by building a claustrophobic sense of doom created by being stuck in a room with periods of waiting.

I appreciated The Green Room even more a few days later as I realized how artful some of the scenes were crafted and how tricky it must have been to keep an even pacing in very limited spaces. While all of the performances are good, not only does Patrick Stewart make a tremendous villain, but Anton Yelchin, who recently and tragically died this past June, delivers elements of dark humor into a situation that is far from funny. Doesn't seem possible, but Yelchin does it well.

The only thing close to a complaint I had was that the green-hued murkiness and chaos at times made the story confusing, but I later realized that added to the tension. The director never allowed me as a viewer to be completely lost, even though there were times I felt I was becoming turned around. This movie turns your around a few times. It's worth the watch.

Goose Island Fulton & Wood Series Calm Radler

Only 3% alcohol, this wheat ale registers 12 on the IBU rating, the same bitter rating as a Budweiser, but it's nothing like a light lager. Absolutely relaxing. It's made with cucumbers, you know, like you'd put on your eyes at the spa? Yeah, me neither, but this is strangely, and unexpectedly good tasting. It's kind of an ice-tea tasting beer, with lime and mint flavors. This is a beer a non-beer drinking might drink.

A bit embarrassing on the macho scale, it's gentle and drinkable, especially on a hot day. I'm telling you, your nerves might be rattled after the brutality and tension of The Green Room. This radler should settle you down a bit, until the next movie.