Films about fiction becoming facts or writers playing detectives are many. But there are few, which do both. As a filmmaker if you wanted to do both, who had better Edgar Allan Poe - the one who invented detective fiction, who is known for his gothic works, who died under mysterious circumstances and whose most famous poem 'The Raven' talks about a lover distraught over the loss of his beloved.
What is extremely impressive is the way in which the makers of The Raven' take the above four facts and fill in the blanks with a gothic and detective story that Poe himself admired for its deft 'P'esque' touch of both the morbid and the mysterious. Poe (John Cusack) is an arrogant writer at his wits' end, trying to earn a living and to win the heart of his beloved Emily (Alice Eve), while being an alcoholic.
When murders start happening in the exact manner that his gothic stories showed, the police take his help in tracking the murderer. The stakes become much higher for Poe when Emily is kidnapped and the murderer plays with the police and Poe by killing more people and leaving clues designed to ultimately lead to her.
'The Raven' is a delight for fans of both gothic fiction and the gothic, horrific in cinema. It blends the two together in perfect harmony. Like the murderer, who is Poe's greatest fan inside the universe of the film, writers Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare
01:57 PM, May 20, 2012
New Delhi: When dark, gothic thriller 'The Raven' debuts in Indian theaters on Friday, it will mark the return of actor John Cusack to more serious roles from recent forays into comedy with 'Hot Tub Time Machine' and the sci-fi adventure in '2012.' Cusack portrays famed American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), who is known for macabre tales such as 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' and poems like 'The...
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It's more exhilarating than anything you've ever experienced. ... 
John Cusack wastes his nice-guy charm on this calculated movie. ... 
