In “The Memorable Case of Mr. Poe”, superstar Christian Bale plays a master detective who teams up with the young Edgar Allan Poe on his latest case. After a very brief theatrical detour, the film is now coming straight to Netflix:
Compared to “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”, the historical serial murder thriller “The Memorable Case of Mr Poe” (in the original: “The Pale Blue Eye”) was only able to lure a manageable number of visitors in front of the screen when it was released in a few German cinemas shortly before Christmas on 22 December 2022 – and yet one can be almost certain that the new film by “Antlers” director Scott Cooper will be a hit on Netflix.
After all, there are a whole series of arguments in favour of “The Memorable Case of Mr Poe” becoming a streaming superhit:
THE STORY
Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) is called in to help by the officials of a military academy in 1830. The investigator, who is considered a genius, is there to solve the mysterious death of a young cadet, whose body was first found hanged in the woods and then further desecrated in the pathology department, as quietly as possible. For Augustus it is quickly clear that it must be a ritual murder – why else would someone have cut out his heart?
But the cruelty does not end there – only a few days later there is the next death. Meanwhile, the investigator secures the help of cadet Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling), whose fascination with all things morbid will one day make him a legendary horror poet, but who is already playing an important role in the hunt for the serial killer…
WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN THE FILM
If you’re a fan of the genre or the two main actors, you should definitely take a look at “The Memorable Case of Mr Poe” – especially if you already have a Netflix subscription. Unfortunately, despite the surprising final punchline, we were not completely thrilled by the film.
In the official FILMSTARTS review, we gave it a mediocre 2.5 out of 5 stars, because Scott Cooper conjures up a dense atmosphere, but sometimes loses sight of the crime plot, which is why “The Memorable Case of Mr Poe” comes across as long-winded and frayed.
The detailed FILMSTARTS review of “The Memorable Case of Mr Poe “
