That there is the first poster from The Raven, the upcoming film starring John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe, as you sharp-eyed readers may have noticed. As we’ve previously reported this isn’t a straight adaptation of the end of the man’s life- instead, it shows him hunting down a serial killer who has chosen to use Poe’s own work as a basis for his killings.

As you can see.

The film will also apparently offer up an explanation for Poe’s still unexplained death.

The official synopsis-

When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a startling discovery: the crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper—part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe. But even as Poe is questioned by police, another grisly murder occurs, also inspired by a popular Poe story.

Realizing a serial killer is on the loose using Poe’s writings as the backdrop for his bloody rampage, Fields enlists the author’s help in stopping the attacks. But when it appears someone close to Poe may become the murderer’s next victim, the stakes become even higher and the inventor of the detective story calls on his own powers of deduction to try to solve the case before it’s too late.

James McTeigue (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) directs and beside Cusack it also stars Luke Evans (Immortals), Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

The Raven opens in theaters March 8th, 2012.

If you wish to know the difference, between you and me, it is that I make this look good.