Filmmaker Statement

“Annabel Lee” was the final complete poem written by Edgar Allan Poe before his death on October 7, 1849. Whether he intended to publish it—or set it to music—isn’t on record, but 176 years later, we did it anyway. Written in the last, chaotic months of his life, the poem bears the weight of Poe’s reality: bipolar disorder, addiction, debt, chasing invoices years overdue, and enduring a string of bad reviews. As fellow artists juggling instability, mental health, and the occasional existential panic, we felt a certain kinship. We also liked the idea of leaving Poe’s text almost entirely intact, letting his romantic Gothic language collide unapologetically with the melodrama of pop-punk and our own comedic sensibilities. We arranged and recorded the music ourselves—loud, fast, and a little unhinged—resurrecting Poe’s undying love for Annabel Lee not as a dusty recital, but as a crestfallen pop-punk anthem. Exactly as he always intended (probably).