Edgar Allan Poe fans may walk around, gloomy and thinky, with invisible ravens attached to their shoulders, but sometimes one just wants to put the invisible raven in an invisible cage and go out for an evening and have a bit of fun.
The bit of fun for Poe-ts in July '09 is more than just a bit: Jeffery Combs, Dennis Paoli, and Stuart Gordon, the actor-writer-director triumvirate behind two seminal horror films -- "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond" -- have put together a stage show, starring Combs, that ponders, chillingly, the torrid, tortured life of writer Edgar Allan Poe.
If you've seen "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond," you know these made-in-the-'80s films changed horrordom forever. You know that Combs, Paoli, and Gordon are famous for going to macabre, moss-hanging-low literature -- think Lovecraft as well as Poe -- and wringing from it terrifying cinematic tales of dread, woe, and creaky floor-boardery.
If you haven't seen these films, finish reading this and go out and rent them at once. If you have a strong stomach and a love of finger-splayed-over-the-eyes thrills.
Jeffrey Combs stars as Edgar Allan Poe at the Steve Allen Theater. Name: "Nevermore" (squawk!). Dates: July 10th-August 2nd
