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That's Edgar Allan Poe himself, staggering around a tavern and challenging patrons to finish a simple line of doggerel they really ought to recognize: "'Quoth the Raven…' Anyone?" The only person croaking out a "Nevermore" is a Frenchman, wouldn't you know it. Such are the humiliations for poor Poe (played by John Cusack) in The Raven, an attempt to recast the tortured author as an investigator in a fiendish series of murders drawn from his own writings. He's enlisted by a Baltimore detective (Luke Evans, Immortals) to assist in the sleuthing, even though Poe would rather be drinking or wooing a fair maiden (Alice Eve), or probably both. (He doesn't seem to have a lot of time for writing.) This Sherlock Holmes-ian concoction might have worked if director James McTeigue had found a way to maintain interest in the actual storyline, but the movie's weirdly dull--even with a damsel in distress for the second half of the action, the characters are colorless and the direction mechanical. Cusack gives it his all, wrapping a sneer around a handful of one-liners that George Sanders might've enjoyed, but the gore and the quips sit uneasily together, in a desperate hunt for a proper tone. And while this kind of vehicle isn't expected to provide documentary reality, it must be said that the movie never convinces us this person is remotely close to the actual writer called Edgar A. Poe. The Raven couldn't handle that level of perversity. --Robert Horton
Product Description
John Cusack and Luke Evans star in this blood-curdling tale of terror that's as dark and haunting as the legendary master of the macabre who inspired it - Edgar Allan Poe. Baltimore, 1849. While investigating a horrific double murder, police detective Emmett Fields (Evans) makes a startling discovery: the killer's methods mirror the twisted writings of Edgar Allan Poe (Cusack). Suspecting Poe at first, Fields ultimately enlists his help to stop future attacks. But in this deadly game of cat and mouse, the stakes are raised with each gruesome slaying as the pair races to catch a madman before he brings every one of Poe's shocking stories to chilling life...and death.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
75 of 86 people found the following review helpful
By Jym Cherry
Format:DVD
On October 3, 1849 Edgar Allan Poe was found wandering the streets of Baltimore, delirious, calling out the name Reynolds. There have been lots of theories as to what Poe died of, from tuberculosis, rabies or to a drunken bender. "The Raven" puts forth a more romantic theory and a detective story for the man who invented the modern detective novel.
"The Raven" as a movie demonstrates that you can make a movie that bridges the biographical facts of Poe's life and its own artistic vision and still make an interesting movie. The movie is driven by the premise, a serial killer starts a series of killings in Baltimore that emulate some of the more gruesome murders in Poe's stories. When the first murder is done inside a locked room, police detective Fields (Luke Evans) recognizes it as the setting of an Edgar Allan Poe story. Fields brings in Poe (John Cusack) at first as suspect, but when another murder occurs Poe quickly becomes the first criminal profiler and consultant. Poe helps Fields both in what kind of mind the killer may have and of course in the details from his stories. The killer kidnaps Poe's girlfriend Emily (Alice Eve) with the killer promising clues as to Emily's whereabouts with each new murder he commits.
The filmmakers, director James McTeigue and writers Ben Livingstone and Hannah Shakespeare don't try to recast Poe's character as a superhero or give the movie Poe attributes that the real Poe didn't or couldn't possess. As mentioned before, the filmmakers stick fairly accurately to the known elements of Poe's last few days, although there are some artistic liberties taken, and they still present an entertaining movie with a few twists and turns as to who the murderer is.
Cusack is spot on as Poe from his look, thin with a black mustache and goatee, to (more importantly) Poe's character. Poe was a writer who had the ultimate confidence in his own abilities as a writer and was dismissive of his contemporaries, especially if they were more successful. Cusack is supported by a cast that hits every note right.
If you think a movie about Edgar Allan Poe won't have enough action for you, this is a movie for you. If you're more literary minded and think this movie will have too many inaccuracies or violate Poe's character or will throw in too much action, you won't be disappointed.
"The Raven" as a movie demonstrates that you can make a movie that bridges the biographical facts of Poe's life and its own artistic vision and still make an interesting movie. The movie is driven by the premise, a serial killer starts a series of killings in Baltimore that emulate some of the more gruesome murders in Poe's stories. When the first murder is done inside a locked room, police detective Fields (Luke Evans) recognizes it as the setting of an Edgar Allan Poe story. Fields brings in Poe (John Cusack) at first as suspect, but when another murder occurs Poe quickly becomes the first criminal profiler and consultant. Poe helps Fields both in what kind of mind the killer may have and of course in the details from his stories. The killer kidnaps Poe's girlfriend Emily (Alice Eve) with the killer promising clues as to Emily's whereabouts with each new murder he commits.
The filmmakers, director James McTeigue and writers Ben Livingstone and Hannah Shakespeare don't try to recast Poe's character as a superhero or give the movie Poe attributes that the real Poe didn't or couldn't possess. As mentioned before, the filmmakers stick fairly accurately to the known elements of Poe's last few days, although there are some artistic liberties taken, and they still present an entertaining movie with a few twists and turns as to who the murderer is.
Cusack is spot on as Poe from his look, thin with a black mustache and goatee, to (more importantly) Poe's character. Poe was a writer who had the ultimate confidence in his own abilities as a writer and was dismissive of his contemporaries, especially if they were more successful. Cusack is supported by a cast that hits every note right.
If you think a movie about Edgar Allan Poe won't have enough action for you, this is a movie for you. If you're more literary minded and think this movie will have too many inaccuracies or violate Poe's character or will throw in too much action, you won't be disappointed.
28 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
"The Raven", a fictional horror thriller featuring the non-fictional literary figure Edgar Allan Poe, was well crafted and never less than adequately watchable, but I really expected more. While calling the film cartoony and childish would be way too critical, I thought there was a broadness and simplicity to the proceedings that made the movie veer away from some potentially very interesting waters.
I'm just thinking aloud here, but I would have loved to see a fictional Poe film set in the months prior to his death in 1849, one that made a genuine attempt at showing viewers what Poe was like, what demons bedeviled him, that sort of thing. The device of the fictional detective story involving Poe could have illuminated the non-fictional aspects of his life, aspects that contributed to his tragic, premature death.
But, no, here we get a sanitized, generally likable Poe with only the barest nods to the man's excesses, depression, and hardships. To be fair here, the film at least mentions that Poe lost his young wife to tuberculosis and that the tragedy still haunted him. But not all that much, according to this movie. There also isn't much grittiness or realism in the depiction of Baltimore in 1849, even though numerous crime scenes in bad parts of town are depicted. There was more moody darkness in the Robert Downey Jr. "Sherlock Holmes" movies.
Finally, worse than the broadness evident in the depictions of characters and locations, the movie didn't even give poor Poe the dignity of his inherent flaws when it came to his death. In other words, flattering or not, Poe's demons and weaknesses were part of who he was and why he died, and that should have been shown in the movie. But, no, here we are given a contraption-like plot development (I won't get more specific in case you're planning to see the film) that's responsible for Poe dying. What bothered me about that? Well, it's not so much that the plot contrivance painted Poe and his demise in a better light (to the point of making him downright heroic, in fact); it's just that, in the end, the revisionist history seemed somehow... disrespectful. Let the poor man have his demons and weaknesses.
Plusses? The movie's production design was lavish; the death traps built by the mysterious killer were suitably creepy; there's generous discussion and quoting of Poe's work (especially his poetry); John Cusack did a good job (given the limitations of the script's approach to Poe's character); and I strangely admired the film's willingness to present no-holds-barred gore and violence. On that last point, the movie ads were selling an adult-oriented horror thriller and, well... we were given an adult-oriented horror thriller. I appreciated that.
I just wish the adult approach extended beyond the violent, intense aspects of the production. "The Raven" is an okay movie that could have been so much more.
I'm just thinking aloud here, but I would have loved to see a fictional Poe film set in the months prior to his death in 1849, one that made a genuine attempt at showing viewers what Poe was like, what demons bedeviled him, that sort of thing. The device of the fictional detective story involving Poe could have illuminated the non-fictional aspects of his life, aspects that contributed to his tragic, premature death.
But, no, here we get a sanitized, generally likable Poe with only the barest nods to the man's excesses, depression, and hardships. To be fair here, the film at least mentions that Poe lost his young wife to tuberculosis and that the tragedy still haunted him. But not all that much, according to this movie. There also isn't much grittiness or realism in the depiction of Baltimore in 1849, even though numerous crime scenes in bad parts of town are depicted. There was more moody darkness in the Robert Downey Jr. "Sherlock Holmes" movies.
Finally, worse than the broadness evident in the depictions of characters and locations, the movie didn't even give poor Poe the dignity of his inherent flaws when it came to his death. In other words, flattering or not, Poe's demons and weaknesses were part of who he was and why he died, and that should have been shown in the movie. But, no, here we are given a contraption-like plot development (I won't get more specific in case you're planning to see the film) that's responsible for Poe dying. What bothered me about that? Well, it's not so much that the plot contrivance painted Poe and his demise in a better light (to the point of making him downright heroic, in fact); it's just that, in the end, the revisionist history seemed somehow... disrespectful. Let the poor man have his demons and weaknesses.
Plusses? The movie's production design was lavish; the death traps built by the mysterious killer were suitably creepy; there's generous discussion and quoting of Poe's work (especially his poetry); John Cusack did a good job (given the limitations of the script's approach to Poe's character); and I strangely admired the film's willingness to present no-holds-barred gore and violence. On that last point, the movie ads were selling an adult-oriented horror thriller and, well... we were given an adult-oriented horror thriller. I appreciated that.
I just wish the adult approach extended beyond the violent, intense aspects of the production. "The Raven" is an okay movie that could have been so much more.
27 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By MandyKay
Format:DVD
All of the actors in this do an excellent job!
The story was really interesting, even though I didn't know very much about Edgar Allen Poe to start with.
The movie keeps you guessing through the entire thing. Great story line with great twists and turns.
The story was really interesting, even though I didn't know very much about Edgar Allen Poe to start with.
The movie keeps you guessing through the entire thing. Great story line with great twists and turns.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Yawn...
Kinda slow, not that much of a thriller. Made great background noise. Don't watch during the day time or at least have all your blinds closed.
Published 6 hours ago by Stephen Mueller
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not As Fun As It Should Be
THE RAVEN, a horror/thriller film from director James McTeigue (of V FOR VENDETTA fame) stars John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe. Read more
Published 1 day ago by R. Cross
4.0 out of 5 stars
Poor, poor Poe, well done though.
I liked this movie, a factious tale about a real guy played by a great actor that is about 10x better looking than the real guy. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Christopher
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bad Ending
The concept was not well executed. Ok until the end which ruined two hours of my life that I can't get back.
Published 3 days ago by frank pfaff
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Story
This movie shows a side of Poe that many people probably didn't really know about. Very interesting movie. I would recommend it to family and friends.
Published 5 days ago by duchess704
5.0 out of 5 stars
This film will keep you guessing all the way through it.
I was a little skeptical about this film at first, not knowing what it really was.
I can say that you will be guessing your way through the entire film. Read more
I can say that you will be guessing your way through the entire film. Read more
Published 5 days ago by Debbie Light Nash
1.0 out of 5 stars
Might as well spit on Poe's grave.
This movie is so bad, I came right over from Netflix to warn any unsuspecting viewer what he's getting into. Read more
Published 5 days ago by Austin Harding
3.0 out of 5 stars
good period piece
a little different take on Poe as a person. John Cusack does well with this, and the flavor of the 19th century surrounding, Poe's morose view of life, and especially the treachery... Read more
Published 6 days ago by Professor Glenn
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Who Done It Thriller
John Cusak is of course an AWESOME actor and this times no different... the plot and the movie are excellent.. we really loved it
Published 10 days ago by Carol Wright
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Raven's Debut
Edgar Allan Poe's character was somewhat more appealing than the man we have come to know through his writings. Read more
Published 10 days ago by Jake Wayne
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