Director: James McTeigue
Cast: John Cusack, Luke Evans and Alice Eve
Running time: 111 minutes
Certificate: 15
Synopsis: Set in the 19th century, a string of murders take place with a touch of dark familiarity to them for Detective Emmet Fields. The gory details mimic the writings of author and poet Edgar Allan Poe, prompting suspicion that the creator himself had been inspired by his own imagination. However, when questioned Poe is quickly scratched from the suspect list after another slaughter takes place, which makes him the only man with any idea of what may occur next. Aiding the detective to track down the killer, Poe quickly becomes more involved than anticipated when a woman close to his heart becomes the next target.
In the beginning, the echo of a woman’s scream lines the breadth of your spine, with a ripple of chilling desperation. You are thrown into the early workings of something truly horrifying. From director like James McTeigue – whose name is associated with the likes of V FOR VENDETTA and THE MATRIX RELOADED – THE RAVEN promises a mysterious and macabre world, with Joe Cusack at the helm as the brooding and dark progenitor of modern murder mystery fiction, Edgar Allan Poe.
First questioned and then enlisted to help, Poe is presented as an alcoholic. He is also unsuccessful, angry, and suffering from something close to a breakdown, being thrown out of a pub and into the street early in the story. We then bear witness to his awkward transformation into the rather unbelievable contrast of a doting lover, whose affair is secret in nature yet apparently happy and quite unexpected. Whilst it is forgivable, the shortcomings of a troubled man whose name is synonymous with ‘that which goes bump in the night’, it was this latter romantic focus, which persists throughout the film that weakens the main character.
Cusack’s performance of Poe seems overly dramatic for what one might have expected: the man has historically been described as a recluse, but occasionally there are small, gloomy clouds of excellence from the on screen version, particularly in his unrelenting arrogance and intellect. These moments, however, are sadly outnumbered by romantic gestures and determination when his beloved falls victim to kidnap as a killing rampage in homage of his literary works continues. Similarly while melodramatic mannerisms can be found in most crime fiction for the big screen, what is clear is that the CSI Horatio method from Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) doesn’t work in the dejected setting of 1800 Baltimore. It seems the latest murder fad is to stuff twelve year-old girls up chimneys and cut victims in half using a gigantic pendulum, but Detective Fields has an unbelievably stoic disposition throughout each murder, whilst being unable to find any clue whatsoever to the killer’s identity.
Whilst the directing and acting is commendable considering what they have to work with, the real problem spiraling from THE RAVEN is poor writing. It turns an unsettling series of 
murders into a clueless and courageous battle to save the distressed damsel, distracting from (though not completely) the concern for the decapitated heads and severed throats of other victims. Also given the spare few glances of the killer – whose identity and character is obscured throughout the film – it is questionable whether he is portrayed vile enough, or even features enough, to even care if he is captured.
What you would expect, or rather what a traditional fan of Poe’s writing would want, is a dark, brooding gore-fest with a plot strong enough to support it reverently. However what you get is a desperate failing artist in a waistcoat and a cloak trying to save his beloved from the evil clutches of his own writing, subsequently into an unremarkable whelp crippled by his own emotional ties. Lacking the aforementioned brilliance, the film includes a cute domesticated racoon and a most excellent death scene involving the earlier mentioned gigantic axe and is still moderately entertaining for those of a lighter disposition; just don’t expect the onslaught of ominous terror.
THE RAVEN is released in UK cinemas 9th March 2012.
