The great John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe and the plot straight outta Theater of Blood! This doesn't have a whole lot to do with the poem. It's about a serial killer recreating Poe's own stories--"Murders in the Rue Morgue", "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", "Masque of the Red Death" etc.
The Baltimore Police pull him in on the investigation and, like From Hell there's a lot of 19th century forensics and more than a few iffy but cool leaps of logic. The killer kidnaps Poe's girlfriend Emily and recreates "The Premature Burial" and then leaves cryptic clues for the cops to find her.
We actually get to see "The Pit and Pendulum" slice a guy in half and Emily's escape is incredible. Cusack isn't very convincing but he's still great, a lot smarter than most of the characters, and doesn't get any respect.
I've been to his house in Philadelphia where there's a floorboard pulled back and a fake heart underneath (!?) Also I grew up in Saratoga Springs where I heard all through my childhood that he wrote "The Raven" at the local artists' retreat Yaddo. He didn't. He only consulted with someone about it there.
