John Cusack and the cast of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" shined on the red carpet Monday night (April 23), helped by the historic Los Angeles Theatre that set the perfect backdrop for the gothic thriller's premiere.

In the film, the macabre and lurid tales of Edgar Allan Poe with veteran actor John Cusack taking on the role as the infamous author. When a madman begins committing horrific murders inspired by Poe's darkest works, a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans) joins forces with Poe in a quest to get inside the killer's mind.

SOUNDBITE John Cusack saying (English):

"Edgar Allan Poe is a genius and sort of a master, who sort of gets enrolled or invited in a meta-physical way into one of his own stories. In doing that, you get Poe having to deconstruct Poe and he has to find out who the mind of the killer is. But, he actually has to explore his own stories and his own imagination. So, rather than a straight bio-pic that you would see at "Masterpiece Theatre," it is much more imaginative and gets involved in Poe's subconsciousness a little more."

The film also stars Alice Eve and Brendan Gleeson.

"The Raven" opens on April 27th.

John Russell, Reuters.