This movie is not actually based on Edgar Allen Poe's famous poem, but there is a Poe connection. Bela Lugosi plays Dr. Richard Vollin, who has a number of torture devices based on things from Poe's stories, including a pendulum. When hired to make an injured woman pretty again, Vollin agrees, but envisions her as his bride. Hoping to make this a reality, Vollin takes homely Bateman (Boris Karloff) and makes him very ugly so as to blackmail him into carrying out evil deeds.
"The Raven" is mostly pretty pedestrian. The horror mainly comes from Lugosi's demeanor and Karloff's looks (I guess that those were always what really made their movies intense, if at all succeeding there). But it's neat just to see Lugosi and Karloff in a movie together.
"The Raven" is mostly pretty pedestrian. The horror mainly comes from Lugosi's demeanor and Karloff's looks (I guess that those were always what really made their movies intense, if at all succeeding there). But it's neat just to see Lugosi and Karloff in a movie together.