The Pale Blue Eye is an adaption of a novel by Louis Bayard that imagines a chilling horror story set in West Point during the time that Edgar Allen Poe was in attendance. The early 1800s time period places the film well before Sherlock Holmes, offering a darker, more reserved kind of horror, creating a strange, slow-moving, threatening aura that I am, actually, all about.
The trailer shows Christian Bale as detective Augustus Landor, who is called in by West Point to investigate a grisly murder. While the cadets prove that their comraderie to each other is greater than their fear of being the next victim, Landor identifies a young cadet—Edgar Allen Poe (played by Harry Melling)—as a possible ally in the manhunt. This is a great premise, in my opinion, because Poe is credited as literally inventing the modern detective story. His “tales of ratiocination” quickly took on a life of their own, creating a unique and popular new genre within decades.
I am truly the target audience for something like this, as I attended both the university that Poe famously dropped out of and I am currently living in the relative area of the Hudson Valley where this film was shot, which has the unsettling effect of feeling as if I could step outside and see the mysterious killer behind every tree during a hike.
The Pale Blue Eye will be available on Netflix and in select theaters on January 6.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water.
The Pale Blue Eye is an adaption of a novel by Louis Bayard that imagines a chilling horror story set in West Point during the time that Edgar Allen Poe was in attendance. The early 1800s time period places the film well before Sherlock Holmes, offering a darker, more reserved kind of horror, creating a strange, slow-moving, threatening aura that I am, actually, all about.
The trailer shows Christian Bale as detective Augustus Landor, who is called in by West Point to investigate a grisly murder. While the cadets prove that their comraderie to each other is greater than their fear of being the next victim, Landor identifies a young cadet—Edgar Allen Poe (played by Harry Melling)—as a possible ally in the manhunt. This is a great premise, in my opinion, because Poe is credited as literally inventing the modern detective story. His “tales of ratiocination” quickly took on a life of their own, creating a unique and popular new genre within decades.
I am truly the target audience for something like this, as I attended both the university that Poe famously dropped out of and I am currently living in the relative area of the Hudson Valley where this film was shot, which has the unsettling effect of feeling as if I could step outside and see the mysterious killer behind every tree during a hike.
The Pale Blue Eye will be available on Netflix and in select theaters on January 6.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water.