I watched about 20 minutes of this movie before it became so irritating that I had to shut it off. The actors are delivering their lines so woodenly that is as though they are reading them from a teleprompter. I used the term "high school drama class"...but in fact, that would have actually been a major improvement. At least some of the people on screen would then have actually been actors. An incredibly stupid premise for an equally stupid movie. If you want to see a movie tied to Edgar Allen Poe, I would suggest 'The Raven'...as it actually uses genuine actors. It should come as no surprise that this 'direct to video' turkey would otherwise never have seen the light of day....If they had first shown it in theaters, they would have to have given the DVDs away for free...a it wouldn't even a bargain at that price.

Without exaggeration, this is the worst film I have ever seen. Excruciating dialogue, poorly fleshed out characters ( no pun intended) and murky visuals combined with poor sound.I realise this was a low budget movie, but so was Deadtime, and while that's no masterpiece, it stands head and shoulders above this.It really does resemble a 1980s direct to TV film.Please avoid this, there are many many other films out there that deserve you attention more than this.This seems to me like a cheap cynical exercise in cashing in on the Poe connection, when in reality, other than a tenuous connection to the main character, this offers nothing about Poe.

For a low budget horror indie this kept my attention. I wish they would have paid more attention to the sound and picture quality. A strong majority of the film seems to be amateurishly out of focus. And I had to watch several chapters over a couple times just to hear what was being said. The sound should have been worked in post. Some good character work from Fine, Savante and one or two others but after that the level of acting drops off significantly. The character names are stupendous. Sophie Tan. Mr Peeples. Mercedes Benz. The Chef's house was cool looking. I'm curious as to what the budget was. Anybody know where this was shot? In a year of Poe films this is sure to do fairly well.

This was very disappointing considering it was a horror/thriller with a character supposedly a distant relative of E.A. Poe himself, as if writing talent was passed down like hair, eye color or even athletic ability he still managed to become a brilliant writer. He is at a time where he hasn't worked in years & is in danger of losing his good name in the literary society so he takes this job as an order from his agent or face complete career failure. It consisted of a two week stay doing a biography of a Mr. Jack Conway who insist's on being called "Chef". Who just happens to be the brilliant and wealthy Dr. Andrew Casey a serial killer in which when caught by his wife became imprisoned at Marathon County Asylum for the criminally insane for eleven years. Oddly he is released, said to have been rehabilitated. He moves to Los Angeles under the alias Mr. Jack Conway. Upon Poe's first night at Conway's house he decides to toss in one of the several VHS tapes that were lying around in his room.This is where it gets weird for me because Mr. Poe discovers exactly what has been & continues to go on in Mr. Chef's house. Is he also that absurd of a fellow to simply discard what is taking place in front of his very eyes and decide to stay & enter the total murderous & cannibalistic world of Mr. Chef? Well it sure is immediately present from the start that there was no rehabilitation done at the asylum.Now as far as the film goes, it's no budget low budget and the acting is horrible. I don't recommend it, but if you have a need to feed your C movie horror craving & are hungry for some cannibalism then go for it, actually just avoid it period it's that bad. It's like the other review said, I found myself getting up to take a leak, get a drink & something to eat without pausing the film, it's that bad.