The first official trailer for The Raven has been released, a thriller where actor John Cusack plays Edgar Allan Poe.

We’ve embedded the trailer above–what do you think? As we previously noted, James McTeigue directed and the cast includes John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve and Brendan Gleeson.

According to Deadline, the story features Poe teaming up with a detective “to hunt down a serial killer using Poe’s works as the basis for a string of brutal murders.” The film will hit theaters on March 9, 2012. (via Shelf Awareness)