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Catch Edgar Allan Poe's Fictionalized Beginnings in The Pale Blue Eye

A gruesome murder at West Point starts the gothic poet's eerie journey.

the pale blue eye
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  • Photo Credit: Cross Creek Pictures

There's nothing better for the chilly months ahead than a gothic murder mystery. And that's exactly what we're getting!

Directed by Scott Cooper, The Pale Blue Eye is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Louis Bayard. Bayard's book is an eerie whodunit set in 1830 that unravels the death of a military cadet whose heart was removed with shocking skill. In a bid to preserve the academy's reputation, detective August Landor takes the case under wraps. But getting any answers from the victim's fellow cadets shapes up to be an impossible task. In order to get to the bottom of things, Landor teams up with an eccentric and poetic young cadet named Edgar Allan Poe.

While this deeply atmospheric film serves as an origin story for the great and twisted mind of Poe, it also doubles as an unconventional father-son tale. The film explores madness, and the ways that real life horrors can often times be even more inexplicable than fiction. Along the way, it also seeks to delve behind the performative masks we all wear.

Christian Bale is in the lead role of the film, portraying Detective Landor, while Harry Melling takes on the iconic literary figure of Poe. The cast also includes the incredible talents of Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey, Simon McBurney, Hadley Robinson, Timothy Spall, Joey Brooks, Brennan Cook, Gideon Glick, Fred Hechinger, Matt Helm, Jack Irving, Steven Maier, Charlie Tahan, and Robert Duvall

The film will premiere in select theaters on December 23rd, and become available on Netflix for streaming on January 6th. Until then, check out the gripping trailer below!