If I had a dollar for every time a historical whodunnit featured revered mystery writer Edgar Allan Poe as one of its characters, investigating murders that echo his own macabre writings, I’d have three dollars. Which isn’t much, but it’s weird it happened that many times.
There’s 2012’s The Raven, starring John Cusack as the OG Goth, plus this year’s Raven’s Hollow, a Shudder release wherein William Mosely plays the father of modern American horror. And now we have The Pale Blue Eye, which hits Netflix on January 6.
Like Raven’s Hollow, The Pale Blue Eye takes place during Poe’s rather misbegotten tenure as a cadet at West Point. When a cadet is found strung up and mutilated, it falls to dour detective Augustus Landor (Christian Bale behind period drama facial furniture) to unravel the mystery. He finds a helping hand in effete, artsy cadet Eddie Poe (Harry Potter veteran Herry Melling), whose interest in the gloomier side of life and keen deductive insight will come in handy before the final body drops.
Based on the 2006 novel by Louis Bayard, The Pale Blue Eye comes to us from Crazy Heart and Antlers director Scott Cooper and seems to be marrying the former’s fascination with Americana to the latter’s overt horror. Cooper, who had immediate success and acclaim with Crazy Heart, has a knack for attracting stacked casts, and The Pale Blue Eye is no exception: Timothy Spall, Gillian Anderson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Robert Duvall all show up in the ensemble.
We certainly enjoy a bit of cod-gothic spookiness around these parts, and The Pale Blue Eye looks like just the thing, with its historical setting, literary roots, and occult-themed murders. Seems like a good antidote to all that Christmas spirit that’s been making the place untidy this past month, too…
