In the trailer for upcoming film “Pale Blue Eye,” Christian Bale is investigating a murder in 1830s upstate New York.
Netflix has released the first look at the American Gothic mystery film, in which Bale plays veteran detective Augustus Landor. Based on Louis Bayard’s 2006 novel of the same name, the film follows Landor as he is called to investigate a killing at the United States Military Academy in West Point. With a serial killer on the prowl, Augustus enlists Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling) to help him solve the case. Poe, the renowned writer and poet known for “The Raven,” “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “A Dream Within a Dream,” is introduced as young cadet at the military academy.
“Down, down, down came the hot thrashing flurry,” Melling’s Poe says in a teaser released on Oct. 27. “Darkest night, black with hell-charneled fury, leaving only that deathly pale blue eye.”
In addition to Bale and Melling, the Netflix film stars Lucy Boynton, Gillian Anderson, Charlie Tahan, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey, Timothy Spall, Simon McBurney, Gideon Glick, Hadley Robinson, Fred Hechinger and Robert Duvall.
“The Pale Blue Eye” is written and directed by Scott Cooper, with whom Bale has worked on 2013’s “Out of the Furnace” and 2017’s “Hostiles.”
Cooper and Bale serve as producers with Grisbi Productions’ John Lesher and Tyler Thompson of Cross Creek Pictures. Grisbi’s Dylan Weathered executive produces alongside Tracey Landon.
“The Pale Blue Eye” premieres in select theaters Dec. 23 and streams Jan. 6 on Netflix. Watch the full trailer below.