The Pale Blue Eye Trailer: A Murder Mystery Worthy Of Edgar Allan Poe Himself

Historical fiction is a really exciting genre when it produces fun, clever stories — which, admittedly, doesn't always happen. But here's hoping "The Pale Blue Eye" pulls it off. The trailer for the new Netflix movie presents us with an unraveling tale of a detective — played by Christian Bale — who is called to investigate what appears to be the suicide of a student at a military academy. And he's not alone, as he's aided by none other than Edgar Allan Poe, played by Henry Melling, who is, yes, the guy who played Harry Potter's dimwitted and cruel cousin Dudley. 

We don't get too many glances into the mystery in the two-minute clip, but one thing is for sure: This suicide was probably a murder, and it has completely confounded everyone on campus grounds. Here's the official synopsis, according to the streamer: 

"West Point, 1830. A world-weary detective is hired to discreetly investigate the gruesome murder of a cadet. Stymied by the cadets' code of silence, he enlists one of their own to help unravel the case — a young man the world would come to know as Edgar Allan Poe."

Watch the trailer below. 

At first glance, one of the most exciting things about "The Pale Blue Eye" is that it feels like a fictional tale worthy of Edgar Allan Poe. The writer was prolific with gothic horror literature and mysteries (he practically invented the detective fiction genre), and the tone of this film feels like it was pulled directly from one of his own stories. Visually, the darkness appears to engulf this tale, which is exactly how any Poe story should be represented. The viewer also gets the sense that there is something much darker at play within this story, which is equally as important to a Poe story. It might be too early to tell, but this historical fiction piece might just be exactly what fans of the legendary author may have always wanted in a modern adaptation of his actual work. The blueprint, if you will.

Alongside Bale and Melling, "The X-Files" alum Gillian Anderson, "Bohemian Rhapsody" star Lucy Boynton, "Antichrist" star Charlotte Gainsbourg, "Empire of Light" star Toby Jones, "Secrets & Lies" star Timothy Spall, legendary actor Robert Duvall, and "The White Lotus" season 1 alum Fred Hechinger round out the film's supporting cast. The film is directed by Scott Cooper, who also penned the script based on the 2003 novel of the same name by American author Louis Bayard.

"The Pale Blue Eye" will be available to stream exclusively on Netflix in the United States on January 6, 2023, after a limited theatrical run beginning on December 23, 2022.