Edgar Allan Poe

The final curtain of the year 2023 is upon us. December, as always, brings with it cold weather and cosy retrospection. Once the awards season kicks into gear, there is the inevitable temptation to look back at all the books, films and shows that kept us company. The page-to-screen pipeline kept pumping out the adaptations. The triumph and tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer, as documented by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin in American Prometheus, got the Christopher Nolan treatment, going from the book shelf to the box office…

Saw XPhoto: Alexandro Bolaños Escamilla/LionsgateHorror is, shall we say, a genre that’s very fond of sequels. We’re all for it when a part two (or a part 10) honors its inspiration while also justifying its own existence by delivering a satisfying, thrilling story. This year, the unkillable Saw franchise delighted fans by dreaming up Saw X, a tale that slotted into the time frame between its first and second film. The Nun II reminded us that the Conjuring Universe is still a reliable go-to for frights; Insidious: The Red…

Image: Warner Bros.If you’re of a certain age, Michael Keaton’s Batman was one of the most formative characters in your nerd life. It’s a character we thought we’d never see again but, 30-plus years later, he finally returned in this year’s The Flash. And no matter what you think of the movie as a whole, if you loved Keaton’s Batman, it’s hard to deny how exciting it was to see that character again, hear his music, and feel that nostalgia. Unfortunately, Keaton’s return as Batman was short-lived, but he went out in style,…

Photo: Russ Martin/FXTo quote Laszlo: “Well, fuck my old boots!” In its fifth season, What We Do in the Shadows still felt like a fresh delight, consistently finding new situations for the vampires to find themselves in–going to the mall, attending a Pride parade, becoming accidental stars on the local news, spending too much time at Panera Bread–and making them absurd and hilarious. Amid all the goofballery, the season’s emotional throughline saw Guillermo finally becoming a vampire (or a half-vampire, at least)—before…

Big multigenerational family dinners can be a recipe for disaster, more so in these divided times. At least be glad you never had to attend one as cursed as the last get-together of the Ushers, a dysfunctional dynasty of drug makers who are slowly ruined by a curse of their own making. The evening begins with a cocktail of bad blood and an appetiser of smouldering sibling resentments. Served as main course is the emotional violence of suspicion: someone within their own ranks is believed to be an informant in the…

The Great Yellowbacks has been a seven-year-long passion project for you. How did the idea come up, and why did it excite you? Thomas Abraham (Courtesy Hachette) Yes, the yen to publish them was a seven-year itch but the interest dates all the way back to the mid-1970s in my school days when I got hold of my first yellowback at a used books market. Then, over the years, I got a few more. The signature design and livery had a lure of its own and that’s always stayed with me. From the late 1980s on, I collected…

Image: Ahoy ComicsChocolate-loving vampires walk among us! The tragic, mallowy tale of charmed kingdoms chills! All this silly spookiness and more has been going on across five years of Ahoy Comics’ Edgar Allan Poe horror anthologies, as Mark Russell and Peter Snejberg’s breakfast cereal monster tales have given a gothic twist to sugary classics—and now they’re being collected all in one place.How Ewan McGregor Helped Bring Back Obi WanAfter years following the tales of the Marquis de Cocoa and his Vampiric wife, as well…

Sarah Michelle Gellar in Wolf PackImage: Paramount+Aside from those titles listed on the previous slide, which are already digging into their respective seasons, look for:Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre: “From the mind of horror manga maestro Junji Ito comes a spine-tingling selection of some of his most bizarre, terrifying, and disturbing tales.” (January 19, Netflix)The Legend of Vox Machina: Critical Role’s animated Dungeons & Dragons campaign picks up for season two, with a third season already…

Set during Edgar Allan Poe's brief time as a military cadet in 1830, The Pale Blue Eye imagines the young poet turning into a detective at West Point. Edgar (Harry Melling) joins Augustus Landor (Christian Bale), who is called down to the US military academy to handle a delicate manner by the higher-up authorities. A second-year cadet Leroy Fry has been found dead, after an apparent suicide. Landor, a former New York City constable, known for solving high-profile cases seems just the man for the job. (Also read:…

Image: Netflix | Scott GarfieldThe 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 Pale Blue Eye | Official Trailer | NetflixThe trailer shows Christian Bale as detective Augustus Landor, who is…