Chronicles of the Raven - Jennifer's Shadow (2004)

Mary Ellen (Faye Dunaway) is matriarch and grandmother to children and grandchildren as well as a sister who have suffered and succumbed to an illness that robs them of their organs and they slowly shut down and die, trapped inside their own body, almost unable to speak while this is happening.  They have terrible dreams of a raven attacking them and eating their flesh.  There's lost of bleeding going on with this illness and weakness and nightmares.

Grandma Mary Ellen has a Raven as a pet, which she locks in Jennifer's recently deceased (taken by the hereditary illness) twin Johanna's bedroom and hangs out with from time to time, but she doesn't let the Raven out and nobody is allowed in Johanna's room during the whole movie and it remains locked at all times.

Jennifer travels 3,000 miles to attend the funeral of her twin, Johanna and encounters a nearly dead Great Aunt and a reasonably well grandmother who feigns sickness (the very sickness the whole family has suffered).  Jennifer now has lost her twin, mother, and father to the same illness, which is supposed to be hereditary, but BOTH of her parents had it???

The overall tone of the house Jennifer is about to sell out from under her grandmother and dying aunt is creepy and dark.  There is always something very sinister lurking in your imagination.  References to Poe's The Raven are made in the film regularly and the film features a "study" with lots of books that make you think of the short story, The Raven.  Black Raven feathers keep getting found around the house and in the weird books contained in this study.

Jennifer must unlock the secret that is killing her family before it too claims her own life!  She has few allies, a former doctor who is now a gravedigger and her twin's surviving husband.  Oh, did I mention the former doctor appears to be altogether batsh*t crazy???

Nobody does evil matriarch like Faye, NO MORE WIRE HANGERS EVER!!!!  

I give it a B+ ad recommend you see it!

 You can watch it for free of Frightpix.com.  

That's where I viewed it. Well, I viewed it today again, but the first time I saw it in a theater in 2004 or so.

Its very similar to Popcornflix.com--almost exactly--(bet they are sister sites), but only shows horror movies.

The Raven (2012)

First of all, Happy Actual Birthday to Edgar Allan Poe, who is actually very dead, but yeah, its his birthday.  I had the pleasure of viewing The Raven, starring John Cusack yesterday and today as I watched it in bits and pieces, because I have no attention span lately. 

I wasn't horrified, but I also wasn't psyched either.  It was a decent flick, but not exactly what I wished it could be.  I am not sad I wasted $2.99 watching this movie on Amazon Instant Video, because I would wonder for a long time if I didn't, but I would have been more engaged, I think, watching something else Edgar-related.

The plot of the film, according to IMDb is, "When a madman begins committing horrific murders inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's works, a young Baltimore detective joins forces with Poe to stop him from making his stories a reality.".

The acting was ok.  I don't know that Edgar's character was captured that well.  I would imagine him to have a sense of humor and be quite sarcastic, which I note was well done, but I don't know how social he would have been or brazen.  I kinda picture the guy as an introvert, who is in lots of pain and likes to indulge in drugs and drink to ease them.  He was way too happy go lucky. 

I was also pretty aggravated that the language was adapted way too much for the modern era.  They could have injected a little more "period" into the acting and the manner of speaking of these characters.  They didn't live very "period", either.  The manner of dress was appropriate, but the rest was not.  It mine as well have been set in our time.

However, the plot was inventive and I didn't know "whodunnit" until the very end.  It was a bit of a thriller, but I wasn't on the edge of my seat either.  I kind of didn't care and couldn't wait for it to be over so I could watch the episodes of American Horror Story: Coven that I missed in the last two weeks.

If you are looking to watch something new, I can't say I don't recommend a quick view, but I can't say your pants will be scared off, you will jump, or even be wildly entertained.