There's not much right with this. It's not terrible by any stretch and Cusack is all wrong for the part and that pains me to say because he's one of my favourite actors. But it's like Lloyd Dobler got sent back in time and he became Poe, that's what I felt like I was watching. And for a rated R film, it needed much more blood and much more gruesomeness.

6/10

LOL!!

I expected him to be standing outside his girlfriend's castle with a phonograph.

I enjoyed this? To my surprise considering the mediocre to awful critical reception, but I s'pose it goes to show one should see a film him- or herself. Yes, it uses one of the great and most fascinating American writers for the low purpose of a B popcorn movie, but the foreboding period atmosphere is rich, the storyline is engaging from moment to moment (the way, say, a superior episode of Law & Order is), and John Cusack delivers a fiery and playful performance as a super-heroic version of Poe. A modest, satisfying entertainment.

B

This was supremely boring. And the reveal of the villain was one of the most anti-climactic endings in some time.

C

It is atmospheric and Alice Eve is gorgeous, but I simply don't buy John Cusack as Poe and as trixster has said, the film's ending is terribly anti-climatic and the villain, after all the good set-up, is just lame.