While it could be a “Party Down” gag if it had more of an action slant, THE RAVEN does its own historical revisionism with infamously moody, hard-living wordsmith Edgar Allen Poe. Star John Cusack, who coincidentally also tweaked history in his last movie (HOT TUB TIME MACHINE), turns on the glower power in this first pic for the thriller from director James McTeigue (V FOR VENDETTA). Poe yeah!!!
Synopsis: In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allen Poe (John Cusack) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. The film also stars Alice Eve (SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE), Brendan Gleeson and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (FASTER).
When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a startling discovery: the crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper—part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe. But even as Poe is questioned by police, another grisly murder occurs, also inspired by a popular Poe story.
Realizing a serial killer is on the loose using Poe’s writings as the backdrop for his bloody rampage, Fields enlists the author’s help in stopping the attacks. But when it appears someone close to Poe may become the murderer’s next victim, the stakes become even higher and the inventor of the detective story calls on his own powers of deduction to try to solve the case before it’s too late.