Christian Bale, left, stars as Augustus Landor and Harry Melling as Edgar Allan Poe in a scene from “The Pale Blue Eye.” The movie was filmed at several locations in Butler County. Netflix via AP

Scott Garfield

Butler County residents can see their home county on the big screen as “The Pale Blue Eye,” a movie starring Christian Bale of “Batman” fame, and Harry Melling of the “Harry Potter” movies, was in limited release at theaters last week and will be available on Netflix on Jan. 6.

The movie was filmed a year ago at several locations in the county. Residents likely will recognize locations in McConnells Mill State Park, such as the covered bridge, historic gristmill, Kildoo Trail, Rim Road Climbing Area and Kildoo Picnic Area, as well as locations around Moraine State Park and Portersville.

In the Pittsburgh region, where the famous George Romero zombie series “Night of the Living Dead” was filmed, it still gets festivals dedicated to it yearly around Halloween.

Jack Cohen, president of the Butler County Tourism & Convention Bureau, mentioned those films as still being a tourist driver for the area. The first movie of the “Living Dead” series was filmed in Evans City.

Movie fans flocking to see the filming locations is just one way a film provides financial benefits to a community. The actual filming of the movie though, more often than not, provides more financial benefits to the community. With the cast, crew and everyone else involved with the film spending their time and money in the area.

“Don’t forget all the people that come with them,” Cohen said. “All those folks, they stay in our hotels; they eat in our restaurants. It’s great for our community.”