‘Stonehearst Asylum’ Trailer: An Edgar Allan Poe Horror Story

[Transcendence]

Those in the mood for a horror movie will have their fair share of options to choose from, during the upcoming Halloween season. That list of spooky titles (well, they’re spooky in theory, anyway) arriving in October include the Conjuring spinoff/prequel, Annabelle; the board game movie adaptation Ouija; indie offerings such as The ABCs of Death 2; and an old-fashioned period horror/thriller, in the form of Stonehearst Asylum.

 

Stonehearst Asylum was previously known as Eliza Graves, though it’s based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fetherâ€. Story-wise, the film takes place during the 19th century, as newbie medical school graduate Edward Newgate (Jim Sturgess) takes a job at the eponymous mental institution. The ominous entrance gate to the facilities (seen in the trailer above) isn’t enough to send him walking in the opposite direction, it seems.

 

Anyway, Edward is then introduced to two of his colleagues: Silas Lamb, played by Ben Kingsley (clearly Edward never saw Shutter Island…) and Eliza Graves (Kate Beckinsale), a figure that the doctor quickly becomes infatuated with; however, Edward soon realizes that everything is not as it seems. Fortunately, the trailer avoids shedding too much light on what those dark secrets are, by instead teasing the mysterious patients and creepy interiors that make Stonehearst Asylum… well, a less than ideal workplace.

 

For additional hints about the unreliable nature of the film’s setting and characters, have a look at the poster for Stonehearst Asylum, featured below.

 

 

 

 

Going by the trailer footage, the Stonehearst Asylum script by Joe Gangemi (Wind Chill) will be using many of the same tropes that tend to pop up in stories about shady mental institutions; how effectively it will use them, remains to be seen. That said, the film is looking pretty sold in terms of its atmosphere, thanks in part to the direction by Brad Anderson (The Machinist, The Call).

 

Between that and a strong cast that also includes Michael Caine (Interstellar), Brendan Gleeson (Edge of Tomorrow), and David Thewlis (The Zero Theorem), Stonehearst Asylum seems as though it’ll be worth a look – maybe not in theaters, per se, but at least as a future rental option.

 

Stonehearst Asylum opens in U.S. theaters on October 24th, 2014.