At Wikipedia when they list Edgar Allan Poe”s professions, they list first American poet. More remembered for his short stories and as the father of the modern detective story, Poe was also a prolific poet whose haunting poems remain with you years after you read them. Who can”t quote at the very least, “Nevermore, quoth the raven, nevermore”?

Born in 1809, Poe lived a surprisingly short life when one considers his long-standing influence in so many fields. In 1949, Edgar Allan Poe was found wandering the streets of Baltimore, delirious and ill. He was taken to Washington College Hospital by an unnamed man, and died there four days later without ever having become lucid enough to explain how he had come to be in Baltimore, wandering the streets in clothing that was not his own. The mystery of Edgar Allan Poe”s death has inspired many stories, not the least of which were the reports that followed his death in newspapers across the country. For years, his death has been widely attributed to alcoholism, but there”s a great deal to dispute that.

In September, a new film on the death of Poe will open at the Festival of Fantastic Films, Britain”s longest running horror movie event. Poe”s death is a fitting subject for a horror movie, particularly one that promises to be, according to the filmmaker, Mark Redfield, “a nightmarish postcard of Poe”s last week on Earth”. That last week has been the subject of much speculation. Poe had left Richmond, Virginia to travel to New York, but disappeared midway on the journey for several days only to reappear in Baltimore, delirious and unable to account for his whereabouts. The theories about where he was during the week before his death have ranged from suggestions that he was on a drunken bout to the wild story that he had been kidnapped and used as a pawn in a plot to stuff the ballot boxes in an election that took place in Maryland on the day that he was found.

The stories were further inflamed by an anonymous obituary that appeared in the New York Tribune, signed with the name Ludwig. That obituary was widely reprinted across the country. The review was written by one Rufus Griswold, a minor editor who bore a grudge against Poe, but who managed somehow to worm his way into the position of literary executor to his estate. Griswold convinced Poe”s mother in law to hand over his writings and letters so that he might release a collection of Poe”s works. He also wrote a “memoir” of Poe”s life that depicted the man as a depraved, drunk, drug-addled madman, a view that eventually became entrenched as the accepted story of Poe”s life. Those stories were supported in large part by letters and writings included in Poe”s collected writings which are now believed to have been forged by Griswold. The view of Poe as a tortured, drug-addicted madman remains, despite evidence to the contrary.

That”s something that may change if you see Redfield”s “The Death of Poe”.

“The picture plays very much as if Poe experienced the last week of his life in the final moments before he died and found peace. It has an uncanny sense about it, and people who have seen it come away liking Poe, and rethinking the popular conception that he was an out-of-control alcoholic.” said Redfield in an interview on the popular horror website Fangoria.

And perhaps it”s about time that the popular view of Poe is revised. The film will premeire in Manchester at the Festival of Fantastic Films, held from September 1 to September 3.

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Snakes on a Plane premeires today across the country. In honor of its opening, drop by Snakes on a Blog to read the fan-written Snakes on a Poem – dozens of them to get you in the mood for tonight”s premiere.