As depicted in the film, Edgar Allan Poe was plagued with nightmares and the deaths of those he loved throughout his life. Those nightmares and his tragic life were many times the basis for his stories and poems; often he found himself in them as the victim or antagonist. Nightmares from the Mind of Poe brings to life those nightmares with Poe as part of the stories, as he often dreamed and wrote them. In the movie, he struggles with nightmares, insomnia, sadness and despair in his own life as he creates his stories. The film includes four of the most well-known tales from Edgar Allan Poe, the master of suspense and horror - "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Premature Burial" and "The Raven"; all of which are word for word the way Poe wrote them, except "The Premature Burial" which was adapted from his narrative story. In "The Tell-Tale Heart", Poe takes us to the mind of a mad man as he struggles with the thoughts that caused him to do the unthinkable and kill the old man in-trusted to his care. "The Cask of Amontillado" is the story of ultimate revenge as Montresor punishes Fortunato for insulting him by walling Montresor behind a stone wall while he is still alive. In "The Premature Burial", Poe deals with one of his greatest fears, being buried alive. "The Raven", which was written through Poe's suffering for his dying wife, deals with the dread of death and the "impending doom" of losing a loved one. In the end, Poe realizes that out of his nightmares and tragic life would come his legacy, his stories for future generations.
—Ric White