Movie Review: Raven’s Hollow

While many of his stories were quite macabre, most wouldn’t call the works of Edgar Allen Poe frightening, particularly by today’s standards. That being said, horror filmmakers love to attach his name to projects. Perhaps because so many people just assume his writing is scarier than it is and likewise assume a movie associated with him will also be scary. Or maybe the high regard that the literary community holds for him is thought to lend their film a little more respectability. Whatever the reason though, as with H.P. Lovecraft, most of the movies that bear his name don’t really do justice to the author or his material, so it is nice that Raven’s Hollow sort of succeeds.

In 1830, Edgar Allen Poe (William Moseley) and four of his fellow West Point Cadets are traveling through New York state when they happen upon the body of a man that has been seemingly strung up as a sacrifice. When he turns out to still be clinging to life, they scramble to his aid, only for him to say the word “raven” before succumbing to his injuries. Poe insists they take the man’s body to a nearby town to see if he has been reported missing and the first village they happen upon is called Raven’s Hollow, where the villagers only begrudgingly admit to any knowledge of the man’s identity.

The cadets are suspicious of just what is happening in town, and so decide to spend the night at the local inn, run by Elizabet Ingram (Kate Dickie) and her daughter Charlotte (Melanie Zanetti). Elizabet is cold to the cadets while Charlotte is more willing to help their investigation, though their employee Usher (Oberon K.A. Adjepong) also warns the men that they aren’t safe remaining in town. One of the group disappears overnight, and when the men find his mutilated corpse they are quick to blame Usher, but it quickly becomes apparent that he isn’t the killer, and that something far more sinister is happening.

While the overall story isn’t exactly anything new, there are some creative ideas here, and all of the references to Poe’s work are fun to pick out. There is a good bit of suspense, especially as the mystery of what’s happening is slowly being worked out, though the movie can’t really sustain it past the point when the answers are revealed. The cast all do serviceable work, though none really stand out, likewise with Christopher Hatton’s direction. This isn’t based on any specific Poe story, so there isn’t a risk of mis-adapting any of them, but it does feel like it’s tonally in the vein of his writing much of the time. There is the germ of a truly great historical horror tale in here, so it’s hard not to feel a little disappointed when what we wind up with feels merely good. ★★★