Film

The Raven

Name: The Raven
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Mystery
Released: 2012
Cast: John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McNally

Other titles called The Raven: the 1935 film, the 1963 film.

A pulpy, darkly playful mystery that casts Edgar Allan Poe as an amateur detective hunting a killer who's staging scenes from his own stories. It's a high-concept mashup that swings for the fences—gothic noir crossed with a procedural. Exactly as silly as it sounds, and mostly unashamed of it. For anyone who enjoys watching smart actors commit fully to weird premises.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy Poe's gothic atmosphere turned into a hunt, with candlelit Baltimore streets, ornate dread and a poet who talks like his own narrator.

Skip it if you want a lean, twisty whodunit, since this leans on lurid set pieces and a fairly conventional chase, and its gore and sensationalism can feel heavy-handed.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a little under two hours of brooding interiors and steadily rising violence, with plenty of talk and little rest between grisly discoveries.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Sherlock Holmes2009

Downey Jr. transforms Holmes into a kinetic, scrappy genius solving Victorian murders with genuine ingenuity. Fast, clever, visually inventive—the same energy of a literary icon solving crime in period dress.

But The action sequences can feel cartoonish and the plotting sometimes overwrought. Not everyone wants their detective stories this jacked up on caffeine.

From Hell2001

A grimy, atmospheric Ripper story that takes its premise seriously while letting the visuals and violence breathe. Alan Moore's source material gives it actual weight beneath the sensationalism.

But It's bleaker than The Raven and slower. If you want constant momentum rather than dread, you'll find this frustrating.

The Woman in Black2012

Period-set ghost story with elegant cinematography and a genuine sense of menace. It proves you can make moody, atmospheric horror with literary sensibility and still keep audiences gripped.

But It's restrained and patient where The Raven is bombastic. Long stretches have minimal dialogue or action.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Raven

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Man in the Iron Mask1939

Both use literary/historical figures as vehicles for baroque plotting and theatrical revenge. Both are more interested in mood and visual spectacle than logical consistency.

Cusack plays dual roles in 1977 (a different Cusack, obviously—but this 1939 version shows how costume drama and period mystery became Hollywood staples). A master class in theatrical villainy and secret identity plotting.

But It's pre-war Hollywood, which means the pacing is stately and the emotions heightened but restrained. Modern audiences often find it overwrought and slow.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street2007

Depp as a revenge-driven theatrical killer in fog-choked London. It's operatic, blood-dark, and commits entirely to its own twisted logic—another high-wire act between pulp and Shakespearean tragedy.

But The musical numbers will lose you if you hate musicals. Sondheim's songs are brilliant but they stop the plot cold.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street poster

The Abominable Dr. Phibes1971

A revenge-driven killer with an obsession for theatrical murders, rendered in primary colours and outlandish sets. It's campy but never winking—committed to its own baroque insanity.

But The tone is genuinely weird in ways that don't resolve. It's too oddly charming for genuine horror and too slow for a thriller.

Murder on the Orient Express2017

Poirot unravels a locked-room mystery with style and intelligence. Feels like watching someone play chess with you—the pleasure is in the craft and the reveals.

But It's a straight puzzle box. If you need momentum or emotional stakes beyond 'who did it?', you'll find it mannered and cool.

Crimson Peak2015

Gothic murder mystery with sumptuous production design and genuine romance tangled into the crime. Guillermo del Toro brings visual poetry to a story of ghosts and secrets in a crumbling mansion.

But It prioritises mood and beauty over plot efficiency. Some viewers find it indulgent; others think it meanders when it should accelerate.

The Da Vinci Code2006

Symbology, art history, and puzzle-solving fuel a chase through European locations. If you enjoy the idea of a famous figure's work being a puzzle to decode, this leans into that hard.

But The script is clunky, the pacing stutters, and Tom Hanks spends most of it looking confused. It's more functional than fun.

Penny Dreadful2014

Literary monsters and historical figures collide in a gothic horror series. If you loved the 'fictional character solving real murders' concept, here it's inverted—real characters solving fictional ones.

But It's slow, operatic, and genuinely grotesque in ways that test patience. Not everyone wants their entertainment this dour and violent.

The Name of the Rose1986

Both use a historical intellectual figure solving a series of murders tied to ideas and art. Both balance cerebral mystery with genuine darkness. Both are more interested in the texture of obsession than straightforward answers.

Medieval monastery mystery where a Franciscan monk investigates murders connected to forbidden books. It's intellectual, gorgeous, genuinely eerie—a procedural disguised as philosophical inquiry.

But It's methodical and long. If you want pace and payoff over atmosphere and theology, you'll lose patience halfway through.

Annette2021

Both are performances of obsession by brilliant actors committed to material that doesn't quite make sense on paper. Both treat pulp subject matter with genuine artistic seriousness. Both would rather be strange than likeable.

A modern musical about a performer and his descent into obsession, told in surreal, operatic style. It's shocking, beautiful, uncomfortable, and completely committed to its own logic. Pure artistic conviction.

But It's a sung-through musical in the Brechtian tradition—if you're allergic to artifice, this will infuriate you. The plot is secondary to the experience and mood.