Poe is a 2011 American horror film written and directed by Francis Xavier (Night Cry). It stars David Fine, Stelio Savante, Gene Silvers, Sal Landi, Mike Iorio, Christy Sturza, Greg Travis, Felissa Rose, Alisa Schulz, Azure Parsons, Khira Thomas.
Plot teaser:
Brilliant and wealthy Dr. Andrew Casey is a serial killer who goes by the name ‘The Chef’. One night eleven years ago his wife found out. He was arrested and imprisoned at Marathon County Asylum for the criminally insane. Eleven years pass and he is released, completely rehabilitated and moves to Los Angeles under the alias Mr. Jack Conway. Yuppie and former teacher, Johnathon Poe, a descendant of the famed writer Edgar Allan Poe and a brilliant writer in his own right is about to form a bond with the chef as the great doctor begins his spree of killings and cannibalism again…
Reviews:
” … almost nothing to do with Edgar Allan Poe. To be fair there is an attempt to mimic the gothic tone and mood of his writing but I gave up after an early scene (the whole shot was nearly pitch black as the only light source was a candelabra and not actually lit with lights) where Jonathan inexplicably discovers a secret room behind a bookcase. With such heavy-handed homage and poor film making, there is no reason to be drawn to this movie regardless of how big a fan you are of the real Poe.” Sean Becktel, HorrorNews.net
Despite a couple of mildly promising opening scenes, Xavier’s film soon becomes muddled and tiresome. Attempts to be off-kilter are too obvious and the narrative grinds to a halt whilst characters spout seemingly ‘meaningful’ dialogue. The director seems to aspire to be the next Ulli Lommel but the world doesn’t need that. An announced sequel hasn’t (thankfully) appeared, so far. Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia
