Edgar Allen Poe’s literature comes to life in The Raven, a gritty murder mystery starring John Cusack as the infamous writer.

The film is a period drama that tells the tale of a violent serial killer that bases his murders on Poe’s literary works. Poe and a young detective join forces to put a stop to the killer’s reign of terror.

Though the movie is based on a fascinating concept and has a lot of potential as a great film, it fails to live up to Poe’s legacy. The frightening atmospheres and memorable, mind-bending story telling technique Poe is famous for are completely absent from the film.

The Raven focuses more on the murder mystery and less so on Poe’s story telling. The Raven comes off as a mix of Sherlock Holmes and Se7en, without Holmes’ loveable quirkiness and Se7en’s jarring twists and turns, with Saw’s pointless gore thrown in.

Poe’s stories are clearly well researched, but the killer that invokes the chilling tales is painfully cliché and uninteresting. Likewise, the side story of Poe’s love life is underdeveloped and does not invoke the sympathy it was intended to.

The movie’s pacing is hectic, with too much focus on unimportant scenes and too little emphasis on important events. The film comes across as hackneyed, chaotic and messy.

The Raven is a disappointment rife with clichés and dull plotlines. This potentially great film has disgraced Edgar Allen Poe’s great literary legacy.