The Raven (I) (2012)

When a madman begins committing horrific murders inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's works, a young Baltimore detective joins forces with Poe to stop him from making his stories a reality.

Director:

James McTeigue

Writers:

Ben Livingston, Hannah Shakespeare

Stars:

John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Cusack	...	Edgar Allan Poe
Luke Evans	...	Detective Fields
Alice Eve	...	Emily Hamilton
Brendan Gleeson	...	Capt. Charles Hamilton
Kevin McNally	...	Maddux
Oliver Jackson-Cohen	...	John Cantrell
Jimmy Yuill	...	Captain Eldridge
Sam Hazeldine	...	Ivan
Pam Ferris	...	Mrs. Bradley
Brendan Coyle	...	Reagan
Adrian Rawlins	...	Doc Clements
Aidan Feore	...	Stage Manager
Dave Legeno	...	Percy
Michael Cronin	...	Old Gentleman
Michael Poole	...	Professor

Storyline

This movie is set in the mid 1800s and involves poet Edgar Allan Poe. A serial killer is on the loose and murdering people using Poe's descriptions from his published stories and poems. Poe teams up with Detective Fields, a Baltimore policeman to try and catch the killer by using his knowledge of the descriptions. Even though the stories are fictional, they start to become reality and the killer is a step ahead of them. Then it takes on a personal note as Poe's lover becomes a target. Will they stop the killer in time?

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Plot Keywords:

murder | serial killer | poet | 19th century | poem | 

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Taglines:

The only one who can stop a serial killer is the man who inspired him.

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody violence and grisly images

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [br]

Country:

USA Hungary Spain

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 April 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

El cuervo

Filming Locations:

Novi Sad, Serbia

Box Office

Budget:

$26,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$7,289,642 (USA) (27 April 2012)

Gross:

$16,005,978 (USA) (6 July 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Intrepid Pictures, FilmNation Entertainment, Galavis Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SDDS Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Noomi Rapace was offered the role of Emily.

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Goofs

When Poe is punched in the face by Captain Hamilton, Poe slowly brings a handkerchief to his face. After a few seconds of screen time with Detective Fields and Captain Hamilton, Poe is once again shown raising the handkerchief to his face. It looked exactly as he had been doing it the first time (same motion as before, same blood position as before).

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Quotes

[first lines]
Breathless Tenement Man: It's the fourth floor.

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Connections

Referenced in The Big Review: Episode #1.4 (2012)

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Soundtracks

"Munster Buttermilk"
Traditional
Arranged by Brady/Peoples
Performed by Lucas Vidal

User Reviews

Un "Poe" tic

It's a 6 for me. If you are going to make a fictional movie about a real character I think you should really just go for it, make it original, and use some imagination. Edgar Allen Poe seems like a great character to use as inspiration for a very dark, evil, twisted movie. This wasn't one of those.

Cusack as Poe, was OK, not great, not horrible but just OK. The story is one I have seen a few times before. The whole author writes something, serial killer uses it as a blueprint, suddenly the writer is called in and that was the killers plan all along and it becomes personal. Yawn. There was so much potential for this movie, and they turned it in to a played out old story line.

It wasn't bad. After the first ten minutes I figured the rest was going to be a torture to watch. It did get somewhat better, but never rose above OK.