The Raven (2012)

Directed by: James McTeigue | 110 minutes | thriller | Actors: John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McNally, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Jimmy Yuill, Sam Hazeldine, Pam Ferris, Brendan Coyle, Adrian Rawlins, Aidan Feore, Dave Legeno, Michael Cronin, Michael Poole, Michael Shannon, Charity Wakefield, John Warnaby, Matt Slack, Ian Virgo, Michael J. Fourticq, Jasmina Ilic, Teodora Uveric

‘The Raven’ is the title of a beautiful poem by the renowned nineteenth-century writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), an author best known for his barely matched horror and detective stories. To this day, the American remains the uncrowned king of the horror story, although in reality his complete oeuvre is even more versatile and his collection of pen fruits also contains works with a completely different character. Poe succeeded like no other in combining his rich, somewhat morbid fantasy with an expressive literary imagination and a meticulous powers of observation. Poe was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore on October 7, 1849, and died a few days later in hospital. Brain tumors, cholera, epilepsy, rabies and heart disease have all been listed as possible causes of death, but research by American author Matthew Pearl seems to point mainly in the direction of the brain tumor.

In the film ‘The Raven’, Poe is played by acclaimed Hollywood star John Cusack and the writer teams up with a young detective on the dark streets of Baltimore on a hunt for a serial killer who uses Poe’s stories as the basis for a series of brutal massacres. Initially, Poe himself is briefly considered the main suspect, but while the writer is being questioned by the police, another violent murder takes place, this time inspired by one of his popular stories. Realizing that a serial killer is using Poe’s macabre writings for his atrocities, Fields enlists the author’s help to end the bloodshed. But when his beloved Emily threatens to become the next victim, Poe must use his own analytical skills to solve the case before it’s too late…

What immediately strikes you about ‘The Raven’ is the stylistic resemblance to the much grander and more pompous blockbuster ‘Sherlock Holmes’. The dark, misty and Victorian-looking alleys of a nineteenth-century city (in this case Baltimore instead of London), the typical clothing, the buildings and the brown bars, often frequented by people of dubious repute, are a few striking examples. . The image of the time therefore looks beautiful and inviting, especially for the romantics among us who still have some nostalgic blood running through their veins. The figure of Poe is also somewhat reminiscent of the Sherlock Holmes that Robert Downey Jr. was brought to life on the silver screen with great flair. Cusack’s Poe is also brilliant in mind, fairly self-righteous, know-it-all, absent-minded, erudite and eccentric. Moreover, he is not exactly averse to a solid drink or a mind-altering dose of opium. Although the Poe in ‘The Raven’ is largely fictional and the film certainly does not pretend to be autobiographical, the real Poe was also alcoholic and addicted to opium. However, Cusack lacks some of the charisma that Downey possesses in abundance, making the cinematic Edgar Allan Poe just not as interesting a character as Holmes.

The final search for Emily and the relationship between the young beauty and Poe (Emily’s father does everything he can to keep his daughter out of the hands of a useless and work-shy drunkard) contain quite a few stale clichés. The murders, on the other hand, are largely uncompromisingly portrayed and will especially appeal to horror fans. The best example is probably the scene in which a portly reviewer is slowly chopped to pieces by a knife-shaped sling, analogous to the story ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’. No, the sadistic impersonator of Poe is certainly not averse to a liter of blood every now and then. Another plus is that the identity of the perpetrator remains well hidden until the end.

Although ‘The Raven’ is without a doubt a nice, entertaining and atmospheric detective story with the necessary horror elements, the film could have been even better if the makers hadn’t toned down the grimness that is so characteristic of Poe’s stories. Now the print is a feast of recognition for fans of the legendary horror writer, but ‘The Raven’ just too often lacks the dark spirit and undertone of the master himself.