This must have sounded like a winner at pitch - a look at the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, where a serial killer is knocking off people in a manner described by Poe. But despite that strong idea, and some terrific production design, it all feels like a damp squib. I love Poe, love Poe movies, but it's got none of the atmosphere of the Roger Cormans, or even the Boris Karloffs. Maybe it needed to be shot on a soundstage, or be more expressionistic like The Legend of Sleep Hollow - less realistic. Actually the presentation here isn't that realistic - it just feels bland.
John Cusack is a good actor but he's miscast here. He feels - I don't know, too modern, too sane. He lacks the tormented doomed passionate genius thing that a bigger (and, yes, campier) actor would bring to it - Vincent Price, James Mason, Joaquin Phoenix. He's not helped by the role which makes Poe passive too much of the time - there are actually two heroes here (the other is a cop, Luke Evans, who is a good actor, and who drives more of the action). Alice Eve is pretty but lacks that Poe touch of 19th century tragedy/beauty/whatever.
There are occasional flashes of gore too which feel out of place - presumably this was a requirement - when what was needed was more intensity and suspense. It's not a bad film, and at least they've read their Poe, it's just feels flat.
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