Ecstasy in the Abyss
A Review of Mark Redfield's
The Death of Poe (2006)

B&W with color sequences—3 disc special edition
Available from Alpha Video

Most films adapted from the works of Edgar Allan Poe—and the few dealing with his troubled life—share in common the structure of his short stories. Producer/Director/Actor/Writer Mark Redfield breaks with this tradition by designing his film about Poe's final days as a poem.

Appropriately, it is a poem that hangs over the film. "The Raven" was one of the genuine successes Poe enjoyed in his lifetime as Redfield's lonely and confused Poe futilely attempts to drum up financial backing for a proposed literary magazine. He receives honor as the author of "The Raven" and a wealth of opportunities to recite the verses.

A lesser filmmaker would have portrayed Poe's contemporaries in an unflattering light. In a stroke worthy of Poe himself Redfield casts the unimaginative merchants with sympathy rather than contempt. They don't dislike Poe and most are impressed with his celebrity. Sadly, they live in large rooms bereft of ornament despite well furnished bank accounts. These are not people likely to see beauty in the terrible when they don't notice the obvious examples.

They just don't buy good business prospects in his efforts at putting American literary criticism on a par with European models. In fact, there is every possibility that the venture would have lost money for all the parties concerned.

How could any of them know that Poe was a literary revolutionary, laying the foundation for the modern short story—and lighting the way for modern science fiction, the horror story and the mystery/detective story? In Poe's time, they knew he did poetry of some merit while the fiction and essays were nothing more than a means to hold creditors at bay.

Redfield utilizes situations from the stories to good effect. Slowly dying in dreary surroundings Poe experiences again his often imagined terror of premature burial or witnesses a grim image of the Red Death (in a color insert).

As he nears the end of his life, he descends into the maelstrom of disturbed memories. He forgets paying the rent for a room, but the landlords are honest and do not take advantage of the situation. Imagine that in a Hollywood film of today.

When Poe's luck runs out and he is mugged in an alley, the comrades who relieve him of his wallet are products of the same military academy he attended. All of them have a certain style that reminds us of how much our criminal classes have truly descended.

This is a film of faces. In the "Making Of" segment Redfield tells us that he didn't hold auditions. He already knew the faces he needed. One example speaks volumes. George Stover turns in the performance of his life as twin brothers.

Long stretches of the picture could be a silent film. Here the lovely musical score by Jennifer Rouse captures the melancholy of Poe in a way that pictures cannot. Her performance in the film again justifies Redfield's casting choices.

Even Poe's black comedy is evident, a side of his work too often ignored except for essential contributions from Roger Corman. The failure to raise money for an artistic endeavor is not risible in the beginning. When the thirsty artist keeps returning to the empty well and manufactures ever more bizarre rationalizations, then it is funny. For those who doubt it, remember that Poe said, "Man was made to diddle."

"This magazine will be Irish."

Poe was multi-faceted. T.S. Eliot only noticed the mechanical side of his imagination in his famous criticism. The truly romantic side of Poe was given an extra impetus when he married his thirteen year old cousin. He never recovered from her death in later years. The aristocratic Poe of Virginia struggled with the failed commercial Poe of Maryland. Baltimore is the place where the Doppelgangers met in battle worthy of William Wilson.

He/they never forgot the tragic loss of the young bride. We remember Poe, the poet, for this most of all.

He tried to be too many things and do too much. Edgar Allan Poe was America before the War Between the States. A generation's lost hopes were interred with his bones. It took a future America, instructed by a future France, to rediscover and appreciate this remarkable man.

Mark Redfield's film is the true memorial that belongs on the gravestone of Edgar Allan Poe.

The final irony is that many of the hacks making today's horror films have less use for a tortured intellectual like Poe than was the case with his contemporaries. Poe thought that there was nothing more poetic than the death of a beautiful woman. Contrast that with the brute sensibilities of those waist deep in the blood of the charnel house who think that slaughter is cool. No wonder that it is a challenge for Mark Redfield to find his audience. His performance as Poe is worthy of a one man show, but he has given us a movie instead.

—Brad Linaweaver