EXPLORE THE LIFE AND INSPIRATIONS OF ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR AND MISUNDERSTOOD WRITERS IN THE WORLD IN
“AMERICAN MASTERS: EDGAR ALLAN POE:
BURIED ALIVE”
Starring Emmy®-Nominated, Tony®-Winner Denis O'Hare and Narrated by Oscar® & Tony®-Nominated, Two-Time Golden Globe®-Winner Kathleen Turner
Available on DVD from PBS Distribution October 31st
Premieres on PBS on October 30th (Check Local Listings)
Arlington, Va. – August XX, 2017 – PBS Distribution announced today it will be releasing “AMERICAN MASTERS: EDGAR ALLAN POE: BURIED ALIVE” on DVD. Written and directed by Eric Stange (The War That Made America, American Experience: Murder at Harvard), this new documentary draws on the rich palette of Poe’s evocative imagery and sharply drawn plots to tell the real story of the notorious author.
“AMERICAN MASTERS: EDGAR ALLAN POE: BURIED ALIVE” will be available on DVD October 31, 2017. The run time of the program is approximately 84 minutes, and has an SRP of $24.99. The program will also be available for digital download.
Starring Tony® Award-winning and Emmy®-nominated actor Denis O'Hare (“This Is Us,”“American Horror Story,” “Take Me Out”) and narrated by Oscar- and Tony-nominated, two-time Golden Globe-winner Kathleen Turner, the program explores the misrepresentations of Poe as a drug-addled madman akin to the narrators of his horror stories. This caricature is thanks, in large part, to a high-profile obituary filled with falsehoods, written by his literary rival Rufus W. Griswold. Determined to re-invent American literature, Poe was an influential – and brutally honest – literary critic and magazine editor, who also invented the detective protagonist with his character C. Auguste Dupin, refined the science fiction genre and popularized short stories, actually writing more comedies than horror.
An orphan in search of family, love and literary fame, Poe struggled with alcoholism and was also a product of early 19th century American urban life: depressed from the era’s culture of death due to the high mortality rate and the struggles of living in poverty. Poe famously died under mysterious circumstances and his cause of death remains unknown.
Filmed in Boston Harbor’s historic Fort Independence at Castle Island, “AMERICAN MASTERS: EDGAR ALLAN POE: BURIED ALIVE” combines dramatized re-enactments with O’Hare of key moments in Poe’s life, readings from Poe’s works by O’Hare, Oscar-nominated actor Chris Sarandon (“The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “The Princess Bride,” “Dog Day Afternoon”) and actor Ben Schnetzer (“Snowden,” “Goat,” “Pride”) and interviews with authors including Marilynne Robinson (“Gilead”), Matthew Pearl (“The Poe Shadow”), Jeffrey Meyers (“Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy”) and Zach Dundas (“The Great Detective”), director Roger Corman (Poe film cycle including “House of Usher”) and others who reveal how Poe tapped into what it means to be human in a modern and sometimes frightening world.
