'The Raven' Trailer Released: John Cusack As Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe isn't just for English majors anymore.

We've been psyched about John Cusack's psychological thriller since his spot-on Poe portrait but now we're able to see the mysterious author come to life.

"The Raven," from director James McTeigue ("V For Vendetta"), tells the story of Poe's final days, which were reportedly spent chasing a killer who was inspired by his dark short stories and books.

Check out the newly released trailer below. With gloomy, fog-fill streets, nightmarish killing sequences and lots and lots of ravens, we can't help but think that Poe would be beaming with pride.

WATCH:

Comments

[abaybay]

03:16 PM on 10/09/2011

I'm pretty psyched for this. I like the casting of Cusack and Poe's last days have always been pondered upon. Plus, I fell in love with Poe's work so much during my high school and college years that I got a tattoo of the raven perched upon the bust of Pallas Athena.

[chiara0]

01:42 PM on 10/09/2011

Mash-up of period and horror.

[BuckyJamesDio]

03:14 PM on 10/09/2011

You just described my girlfriend every three and a half weeks or so.

[dennis1943]

07:49 PM on 10/09/2011

Oh no, i "get it"................ugh!

[Monicalups]

01:08 PM on 10/09/2011

OH PUH-LEEZE!

[Hardyman1966]

08:28 AM on 10/09/2011

This looks American-accent-promising. :)

[Leper]

05:37 AM on 10/09/2011

That is horrible. Yeah, it looks pretty. But it sounds pretty stupid.
Edgar Allan Poe was about imagination and perception. His stories were about the most active yet least kinetic part of a person: their brain. To take his name and slap it on an action hero is lazy and ridiculous.

[LeftLeanWing]

06:34 AM on 10/09/2011

tells the story of Poe's final days, which were reportedly spent chasing a killer who was inspired by his dark short stories and books.

[SimonBao]

05:44 PM on 10/08/2011

Pleassssssssssse.... this has the potential to be brilliant, and to be a magnificent tribute to Poe. The founder of the detective fiction genre, one of the founders of the horror fiction genre.

Or it could be dreadful, and fill the world's Poe fans with regret and sadness.

[jokamachi]

05:30 PM on 10/08/2011

I'm not sure if turning Poe's final days into an episode of CSI is any more interesting than the man's life itself. I've read his works for many years, not to mention researching his life, and this is the first I've heard of him tracking a killer. Poetic license is well and fine, but this seems just plain weird.

More likely is the theory that when he was found, Poe had been been the victim of foul play, having been drugged and taken round to different precincts of Baltimore to participate in election fraud. He wasn't even wearing his own clothes at the time... and was raving and insensible.

Another theory is that the brothers of a woman he was wooing took him for a little ride, if you know what I mean.

[-swift]

07:59 AM on 10/08/2011

I'm going to have to see this in the early morning on a bright sunny day, just to avoid all the goths.

[Hardyman1966]

08:27 AM on 10/09/2011

It's amazing they still walk among us, completely unaware that Bauhaus and Siouxsie have called it a day.  Or night, as the case may be.

[SteveDenver]

02:04 AM on 10/08/2011

McTeigue can definitely spin a spectacle, but so far he can't tell a story.

[Zilo]

09:53 PM on 10/07/2011

Wow. Hollywood will make a movie about *anything*. They're desperate.

[SimonBao]

05:54 PM on 10/08/2011

NOT AT ALL...

Are you unaware that even in 2011, Poe's final days and death in Baltimore are entirely mysterious, and are an enduring UNSOLVED mystery? His disappearance has never been explained, and his cause of death is unknown and fuels disputes over whether he was poisoned by someone, or poisoned himself, whether he was "cooped," whether he had suffered a brain injury, or whether his heart gave out following a trauma...

Are you unaware that Poe is the very founder of mystery and detective fiction, and one of the founders of horror fiction, and tales of the macabre? It's not *anything* to craft a story that throws Poe into the role of detective, in pursuit of a madman who uses Poe's own macabre tales as the inspiration for a horrifying crime spree... even while the story answers (fictitiously) all the mysteries of just what happened to Poe in those final days of his life.

That's not desperate. That's clever, and literate. That's inventive. That's (potentially) inspired.

[anwe]

07:10 PM on 10/08/2011

Okay SimonBao! I thought it looked interesting before... now I'm really excited to see this movie!

[bluejoni2525]

08:38 PM on 10/07/2011

I'm looking forward to this !!!

[burtongrl]

06:11 PM on 10/07/2011

I like Cusack, but see this as a more Johnny Depp type role

[eri 68]

04:50 PM on 10/07/2011

Can't wait! Love Poe, thoroughly enjoy John Cusack. I hope it debuts on a stormy winter's night.

[HeatherRamone]

10:35 PM on 10/07/2011

Co-signed!!

--------------HR

[WoodsideCraig]

04:44 PM on 10/07/2011

Lost line of "The Raven"

Lenore rose up as light as a feather, broke free of her tether, dressed in tight black leather,

And struck just like a raptor, high heels struck her captor, whose fate was sealed forevermore,

With anachronistic fighting, and nearly perfect lighting, she was a figure very fright'ning

Standing in the gore. "Are they gonna mess with this B*tch? she cried. Quote the Raven, "Nevermore."

[EStreetShuffler]

12:38 AM on 10/10/2011

Nice. I suggest Joan Cusack for the role of Lenore. Playing against type, you know.

[ashisu]

03:39 PM on 10/07/2011

Oh yeah. Definitely going to see this!