Plot: In 1848, in Baltimore, Edgar Allan Poe is a penniless writer with drinking problem, who writes reviews in the Baltimore Patriot newspaper. Emily Hamilton and he are in love but her father Captain Charles Hamilton despises him. When a mother and her twelve year-old daughter are mysteriously murdered in a locked room, the efficient Detective Emmett Fields finds a hidden spring in a window nailed shut that opens the window and he recalls an Allen Poe story. Then the writer Griswold that has criticized the stories of Poe is murdered in the same way of another gory story. They find a scarlet mask in Griswold and Poe recalls another tale about another murder in a ball. Fields believes that the killer has inspired in Edgar Aleen Poe's tales to commit his crimes and that Emily is in danger. Captain Hamilton does not call off the party and the criminal creates a diversion to kidnap Emily. Now Poe must participate in a game following the killer's instruction.
Alternative Plot: In 19th-century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a horrifying discovery: The murders of a mother and daughter resemble a fictional crime described in a story by Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack).When another murder occurs, also seemingly inspired by Poe's writings, Fields realizes a serial killer is on the loose and enlists Poe's help in catching the felon. The stakes become personal for the struggling author when someone close to him may become the killer's next victim.
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