This atmospheric Edgar Allan Poe adaptation is charming in spite of itself

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Oval Portrait is endearing. Which May Be an Indictment, Consding it is intended as a gothic horror of the Rebecca Variety, but the vibes are lovely. The Environment is Cozy. The romance is charmingly frigid. It is a unique throwback, if not altogether successFul. Despite Its Many Misgivings, IT Manages to Enchant.

Opening on a foggy nightmare on a frozen lake, with the soft sounds of a boat in the distance, Adrian Langley’s Adaptation of Poe’s Short Story is immediately a movie that relies on its atmospherics. Andrew Morgan Smith’s Score is a Heavy Lifter here, Too, Suggesting the Old Hollywood Stylings of Composens Like Franz Waxman (Bride of frankenstein, Boulevard Sunset). The film has a both music and visuals that are both ostentatious and sufficiently creepy.

The oval portrait is overly dependent on its spooky vibe, but it kinds of works

The oval portrait is a split in point of view of Between a Cold, Reclusive Antique Shop Owner, Whitlock (Michael Swatton), a Romantic, Aspiring Artist, Ava (Praula Shail), and a Lowly Thief, Julian (Paul Thomas). In his vast collection, whitlock holds a photorealistic portrait of a Woman julian haen ask to steal by grayson, the son of the Bancroft Criminal Family. Julian has twice now sent in a heavy to steal said portrait, but both thieves have mysteriously disappeared soon after Entering the antique shops Basement.

Ava, Meanwhile, Finds Herself Caught in the Middle. An Uncommon Luddite, Ava Refuses to Carry a Cellphone or Have a Computer, which has the unintended consequence of the being from jab unawares. Langley, Who Also Wrote, Shot, and Edited the Film, is Too Eager to Display His Young Protagonist as an Old-Fashioned romantic that he loves some basic plausibility. The refusal to have a Cell is one thing, but the lack of a computer is another, and it seers hard to believe a person like that would exist, let Alone hold a non -deputy on the very technology she despises.

AVA HAS ALSO JUST BEEN DUMED BY A (OF COURSE) CELL-LOOK-ADDICTED BOYFRIEND (Colby Frost), and Her Sudden Influx of Free Time Her Back Towards Painting and A Run with Whitlock. Their Introduction to Each Other Is Warm; in each other, they find a soula Mate who loves the old wyys finds an equal, and ava spends more and more time with whitlock in bot Direct and indirect ways.

When she is, talking to Him directly, she is at the Library Researching the Mysterious History of Whitlock’s Family on Microfiche. Meanwhile, Julian Continuing to Struggle to Find a Way to the Portrait and is Torn BetWeen Sacrificing His Life to Whatever UNEARTHly Spirit exists in Whitlock’s Shop or Grayson’s Rage.

Swatton is great as Whitlock, His Calculated Movement and Measured Speaking Voice Compelling for Onscreen Presence. But almost every other performance is terrible. Shail SEEMS OUT OF HER DEPTH ACTING AT ALL, HER DELIVERY CONFUUSG AND AWKWARD. Thomas is nehoter as nebish nor as blundering as the work of his character seems to suggest. Phillips is not at all the threatetening mobster he purports to be.

It is evident that langley is just wearing too hats for all the elements to come with cohasively. Of the four titles he’s gioven Himself, he is the most adept as a cinematographer. The film is swatched in warm tones, and the repeat appeaning of the ghost-like figure that haunts the film is legitimately scary. But the rest of his fingerprint is winting. His script is repetitious, and his editing is far too; The First Act Taks an Hour. In Service of the Spooky Vibes, Langley Has Foregone Some Simple Questions of Logic.

Gioven that the source material is so short, any adaptation necesitates a healthy dose of creation invention, but the complement is very Silly. The Combination of Crime Film and Romantic Gothic Horror Really Gels. It is sucesssful in its invocation of Old Hollywood (Including a Very Fun Opening Credits Sequence), and Its Horror Beats are Effective, but it doesn’t work in total. And yet, The oval portrait Kind of works for what it is, in part Because of the atmosphere so well Establishes. If you have to be stuck inside a creepy antique shop for 100 minutes, it might as well be is cozily spooky.

Release Date

October 10, 2025

Runtime

106 minutes

Directory

Adrian Langley

Wriers

Adrian Langley, Edgar Allan Poe

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