Trailer Tuesday: The Raven

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No doubt inspired by the success of Guy Ritchie's adrenalin-charged Sherlock Holmes reimagining, The Raven also brings together 19th Century literature and crime solving for a fictionalised take on the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life.

Coming across like a blend of From Hell, Sleepy Hollow, The Bone Collector and a historical take on Saw, The Raven sees seminal writer Poe (John Cusack) drawn into a crime investigation when a series of gruesome murders are committed in Baltimore - and they're blatantly based on his Gothic horror stories. Poe has an additional incentive to succeed in this bloody game of cat-and-mouse: his beautiful young wife Virginia (Alice Eve) has been targeted by the clue-dropping serial killer. Luke (Immortals) Evans plays the police inspector assigned to the case.


Directed by V for Vendetta's James McTeigue - and also apparently featuring a masked, knife-wielding character - The Raven certainly has potential. Especially if it depicts the murders from the literary likes of The Pit and the Pendulum, The Premature Burial and The Murders in the Rue Morgue in all their R-rated, graphic glory.

Of course, The Raven could also just be another derivative "serial killer matches wits with hero" movie, where the tired formula has simply been buffed into false surface freshness by draping it with historical dressings. After all, if it's like any of the films mentioned at the beginning of this post, The Raven will be entertaining enough but prevented from reaching its full potential by a handful of flaws. Then again, there's been many a fun, flawed movie and I can't say that's ever stopped me from watching before, especially when I'm looking forward to the film in question - as I am with The Raven.

The Raven opens on 9 March in North America. The film's South African release date has yet to be set.

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