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Show HILLTOP TIMES timEs July 26, 2012 EMERGENCY EXERCISE _% ,d61"411Iir Above, Airmen begin a search of an area during an exercise July 19 near the Hubbard Golf Course. An emergency exercise at Hill Air Force Base involved a fuel truck and two "casualties." One "casualty" was hit pretty hard and therefore the search was to verify they had located all of the missing "casualty" in the incident. At left, the truck sits off the road. Below left, everywhere anything was located an X was put on a chart. Below right, the group of responders pauses to set up procedures. KIM COOK/U.S. Air Force RAVEN From page 7 they discover the only bed had been moved to the center of the room, the chamber is in complete disarray, and the only two windows are nailed shut from the inside. How does the killer get out of the room after committing such a grisly murder just moments before police break down the door? Detective Fields (Luke Evans) examines the scene. Something about the scenario seems oddly familiar to the officer. He remembers reading the Edgar Allan Poe tale "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." He suddenly knows how the killer escaped. Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) is brought in for questioning, but when the Baltimore police realize that the man may be sick and twisted, but would have no stomach for such a crime — oh, and another murder occurs during the interrogation — they seek his help in solving these copycat killings inspired by his work. It's an intriguing idea made even more grave when the mystery man kidnaps Poe's beloved Emily (Alice Eve) and forces the famous author to quickly pen additional stories to satisfy the killer's whim. In a strange way, Poe has found a new muse, when he thought he had exhausted all of his tales of the macabre. Will Poe solve the mysteries in time to save his dear Emily? Good question, and you have to admit, it's a bit intriguing. But here's where the filmmaker falls short. The "Pit and the Pendulum" moment, which tormented me for years in the 1961 Vincent Price film, is basically: swoosh, swoosh, chop. The director couldn't take an extra minute to build the suspense in one of the most horrifying images in cinematic history? Other scenes involving the almost-superhuman killer seemed equally rushed and unlikely. Still, I have to admit, I kind of got a small kick out of watching Cusack channel his inner Edgar, despite the clumsy execution (sorry) of the overall movie. To quote the Raven, "'Tis the wind and nothing more" seems quite applicable here; the filmmaker had an opportunity to "Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore." Unfortunately, it's left to the ebony bird, paraphrasing, "Dude, you messed it up." Steve Salles can be reached at films@standard.net . |