FAQ

When a string of murders mirroring stories written by Edgar Allan Poe take place in 1849 Baltimore, the real Poe (John Cusack) is called in by Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) to help. It takes on a personal note when Poe's fiancée, Emily Hamilton (Alice Eve), is kidnapped and buried alive, and Edgar is left with only a series of clues with which to find her.

The Raven is a fictionalized account of the circumstances leading to the death of American author Edgar Allan Poe [1809-1849], who was found delirious and near death in the streets of Baltimore, Maryland on 3 October, 1849 and died four days later at Washington Medical College. The movie does, however, mention several of Poe's short stories, including the titled story, "The Raven" (1845). The screenplay was written by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare.

Besides "The Raven", the movie also mentions "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841), "The Telltale Heart" (1943), "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1942), "Annabel Lee" (1949), "The Masque of the Red Death" (1942), "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" (1842) , "The Cask of Amontillado" (1946), and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" (1945).

He sent in the actor on the horse as a decoy. While everyone's attention was diverted by the decoy, the kidnapper absconded with Emily.

After releasing Emily from her coffin hidden under the floor of the newspaper office, Edgar makes his way to a park bench, the poison beginning to have its effect. A passerby notices him and asks whether he can call someone to help, since Edgar looks a little "worse for the wear." Edgar only has time to say, "Tell Fields his last name is Reynolds," before he leans back against the bench and whispers to himself, "Oh Lord, help my poor soul." Poe is taken to the hospital where the doctor tells Fields about Poe's dying words about Reynolds. In the final scene, having traveled to France, Fields sits in a carriage. Ivan enters, and Fields shoots him.

Just after the killer makes Poe drink poison, Edgar's life in exchange for Emily's life, he announces that he's moving to Paris to play the same game with French author Jules Verne. As he is getting ready to leave, a carriage arrives, and the driver calls out, "Carriage for Mr Reynolds." Reynolds may not have been his real name, but it was the name under which he was traveling, and it gave Detective Fields enough information to hunt him down in Paris.

Yes. Poe's works are in the public domain and can be downloaded from various websites such as the one at Project Gutenberg.