I stumbled across this film while looking at what was playing yesterday. Movies inspired by Edgar Allan Poe can be unpredictable, but since I appreciate several of his stories, I thought I’d check it out. It turned out to be much better than expected. The Victorian setting combined with the dark storyline and overall mood creates a very entertaining classic thriller. The film draws on Edgar Allan Poe's writings, but not in the typical way you might expect. Instead, the story centers around Edgar Allan Poe himself, where his stories are used by an evil genius to be brought to life—literally—with fatal consequences. I don’t know what Edgar Allan Poe was like as a person, and I didn't have any strong feelings about him before seeing this movie. Still, considering he wrote such macabre tales, I can imagine he might have been a little odd; John Cusack’s portrayal of the eccentric, somewhat alcoholic, occasionally bordering on insane but undeniably brilliant Edgar Allan Poe felt spot-on to me. That's not to say the other actors weren't good either. If you were to dissect the plot and remove the elements taken from Poe’s original works, it wouldn't be particularly remarkable. But when you combine that with pieces of his stories, Cusack’s characterization of Poe, the dark Victorian atmosphere, and generally solid visuals, you end up with a film that is surprisingly good, as I mentioned earlier.

Source on TMDB