With so many actors from the British Isles, you can guess that some European city is passing itself off for 19th century Baltimore.

Horror writer Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) has returned to Baltimore, down on his heel, needing a drink and a newspaper editor willing to publish his work. His best writing days are behind and no one wants to know him, in fact most do not know who he is.

Pretty soon a killer inspired by Poe's writings is slaughtering people. in all sorts of nasty ways. Smart Baltimore police Inspector Fields (Luke Evans) first suspects Poe but then enlists him for his help as he needs Poe's knowledge of his own works to find the killer. Time is running out as Poe's girlfriend has been kidnapped.

The film is a police procedural mixed with campy horror. Cusack's take on Poe feels all wrong. However you go to applaud a film that takes the writer Poe and puts him in his own ridiculous horror tale.

This isn't a particularly bad film, but it is all over the place and it's rather hard to either enjoy it or pigeonhole it. It's a fictionalised account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe, in which he finds himself assisting the Baltimore police force in their hunt for a serial killer whose crimes reference those in Poe's own fiction.

THE RAVEN is an odd cross between period Gothic, slasher horror, and detective story, and none of those genres really work all that well. The mystery stuff is based on contrivance and coincidence than real detective work, and the gory kills feel a little silly given their literary origins. What I did like were all of the Poe references in the film, which I picked up on having read a lot of the author's works.

What I didn't like was John Cusack whose domineering, shouty performance turns the whole thing into melodrama. I've never liked Cusack, in fact, and his miscast turn as Poe merely consolidates that opinion. The rest of the cast is more dependable, particularly with the likes of Brendan Gleeson and Luke Evans, although Alice Eve is another weak link playing the usual love interest/damsel in distress. THE RAVEN did keep me watching and it's not a particularly bad film, but I can't help but feel it could have been so more successful in the right hands.

Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) is found near death on a park bench in Baltimore on October 7, 1849. Then it flashes back days earlier. There is a serial killer on the loose and detective Fields (Luke Evans) is investigating. Poe is self-obsessed, possibly washed up, may be drinking too much, and is marrying lovely Emily Hamilton (Alice Eve). Fields discovers the similarities between the murders and Poe's writing. Poe becomes a possible suspect or at least the inspiration for the crimes. Emily's father Capt Charles Hamilton (Brendan Gleeson) is in charge. Then Emily is taken and they get a note challenging Poe.

It is dark, moody and grotesque. I wish this could be even darker. John Cusack is going darker than usual but he still has his boyish light charms. It needs more tension and more excitement. I like where this movie is going but I just wish it pushes even harder. Poe may be shocking once upon a time. The blood and guts isn't gruesome anymore. It's very slow at times and Poe doesn't have the energy. This could use a lot more energy.