The Raven
Directed by James McTeigue
- crime
- thriller
- mystery
The story
A fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet is in pursuit of a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories.
What it’s like
Cold, rain-darkened Baltimore rendered in murky greys and sickly candlelit ambers, with dim tavern interiors, gaslit streets and the gothic sheen of a masked ball giving the whole film a smothered, claustrophobic look. Camera work leans on tight, unsteady framing and dolly moves through shadowy corridors, with the occasional lurid flash of violence against heavy black. The score is orchestral and insistent, swelling into stabs of tension, while the soundscape is full of creaking floorboards, distant bells and rain on glass. Its vibe is brooding, feverish and grimly theatrical, best suited to a late-night watch with the lights off. The pacing is brisk and plot-driven, with a sense of ticking clocks and deadlines, and the emotional register is melancholy and gallows-tinged. The central figure is a fragile, self-destructive writer slowly driven to desperate, almost frantic action. Violence is frequent and graphic: poisonings, stabbings, and buried-alive horror, with dread and bloody images rather than gratuitous gore, and some sexual content and adult themes. Best for viewers who enjoy gothic crime thrillers and period mystery with a dark, ornate edge.
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