The Following - Season 1
9.0
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A brilliant and charismatic, yet psychotic serial killer communicates with other active serial...
Edgar Allan Poe Kevin Bacon
The Haunted Palace (1963)
7.0
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Movie
Gothic horror, theoretically part of AIP's series of Poe-inspired films, but actually based on a...
The Pale Blue Eye (2022)
7.2
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A world-weary detective is hired to investigate the murder of a West Point cadet. Stymied by the...
The Raven (2012)
6.2
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After some very unusual murders occur in Baltimore, a Detective soon realizes that these murders are...
Jonathan Kellerman recommended Potboiler in Books (curated)
Suzi (55 KP) rated Stonehearst Asylum (2015) in Movies
Jun 22, 2019
Overall it was good but needs a bit of effort to keep full attention.
The Tell-Tale Tarte
8.0
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The life and work of Edgar Allan Poe spices up this culinary mystery from the author of Final...
A Most Malicious Murder
10.0
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Book
Not all monsters are fictional. In an alternate 1851, Edgar Allan Poe has finally overcome his...
Historical Fiction Mystery Alternate History
Tales of Mystery and Imagination: The Bloomsbury Phantastics
Book
An inescapable black pit, an innocent buried alive, and the deranged hallucinations of a murderer...
Connor Sheffield (293 KP) rated The Raven (2012) in Movies
Apr 27, 2017
I am a poet and a writer, and my biggest inspiration as a writer has always been Edgar Allan Poe. I love the gothic horror, the tragedy, the macabre, and everything that makes Edgar Allan Poe the legend he is today.
With that said, let me tell you why I love this movie. It involves connections to some of Poe's greatest work, and not his poetry necessarily, it's actually more about his stories. Telltale Heart, Pit and the Pendulum and others that are all combined into the twisted mind of our antagonist who uses these stories to commit his crimes and leave evidence behind that only Poe himself would be able to figure out.
It's a brilliant crime thriller that delves into the mind of someone who is essentially Poe's biggest fan, but in a very dark and twisted way that gives us a fictional story about what happened during Poe's last days before he was found dead on a park bench. It's a known fact that Poe's last days remain a mystery and so this film had the opportunity to really play with some great ideas and they were executed brilliantly.
Speaking of execution this film is very grim and gory. One scene involving the story of The Pit and the Pendulum has us watch as a Pendulum drops lower and lower before slicing through a man's stomach like a warm knife through butter. It doesn't leave a lot to the imagination which gives this film some charm and makes it stand out from the rest of the Poe Film adaptations.
John Cusack plays the lengend himself, Edgar Allan Poe and brings a very interesting performance, that seems to suggest Poe thought himself as a higher intelligence to those around him, and he isn't shy to announce it.
Sharing the screen with Cusack, includes names such as Luke Evans who portrays Detective Fields, the detective I mentioned earlier that seeks Poe's assistance in the murder case. Brendan Gleeson portrays a very protective father named Charles Hamilton, who despises Poe being anywhere near his daughter Emily Hamilton, portrayed by Alice Eve. However there differences are put aside as the hunt for the missing Emily continues.
The story transitions well from scene to scene and story to story as each clue leads to the next, and eventually we discover the culprit who I shall not name here because I wish to leave the tension and suspense for you as you watch this film.
