Should you see ‘The Raven’? Nevermore

For reasions that are obvious to me, I was truly looking forward to seeing “The Raven.” The film just sounds interesting, working as it does on the amusing concept that a serial killer is haunting 1849 Baltimore using the methods outlined in Edgar Allan Poe’s many stories and poems. Which means that some people get stuffed up chimneys, others strangled, others sliced in half by a razor-sharp pendulum and still others buried alive.

It sounded to me like a cross between a 1960s Roger Corman movie and “CSI.”

But … did I say “amusing”? Ah, if only it were so. In fact, one or two jokes would have been a real help. Because “The Raven” turns out to be one of those projects that takes itself way too seriously. I’d have welcomed a little Corman-created cheese. Unfortunately, director James McTeigue disagreed.

The conceit of the film’s plot is based on the fact that Poe died on Oct. 17, 1849, under mysterious circumstances. According to the Web site run by the Poe Museum, located in Richmond, Va., Poe had disappeared a few days before while on a speaking tour. Theories concerning the cause of his death have ranged from tuberculosis to, far more popular, incipient drunkenness.

Now here come screenwriters Ben Livingston and — believe it or not — Hannah Shakespeare claiming that, during that time, Poe actually was working with a Baltimore police inspector investigating the aforementioned serial murders. McTeigue took what Livingston and, yes, Shakespeare wrote and gave it a tone that even the notoriously unintentionally funny David Caruso would have found over-the-top.

Even worse, McTeigue cast one of my favorite actors, John Cusack, who specializes in light humor. Here, Cusack — not the most versatile of talents — has to play it straight. And he spends most of his time flailing around. It’s enough to wonder what happened to the actor who made Lloyd Dobler one of the most memorable characters in film history.

So … I was looking forward to seeing “The Raven.” And I ended up disappointed. Thanks, Hollywood. You’ve done it to me again. To Cusack, too. Not to mention Poe.

Below : John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler, dispensing his code of life.