My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To

My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell it To (2020) is a movie my wife and I recently watched on Prime. The storyline follows a brother and sister with a sick younger brother who needs to drink blood to survive. They'll go to extreme measures to find and extract the blood; meanwhile, the brother feels his world is too small and wants to expand his circumstances...

This movie is directed by Jonathan Cuartas in his directorial debut and stars Patrick Fugit (Gone Girl), Ingrid Sophie Schram (Phantom Thread), Owen Campbell (Super Dark Times) and Katie Preston (Vagina Town).

This is a very unique and well done movie. The characters and circumstances draw you in and Campbell does a fantastic job of being eccentric. His mannerisms were perfect and every time he drank blood I cringed a little bit. The cast really does a great job depicting the characters inner struggles with the circumstances. The action scenes in this are very good. The screwdriver scene was well done and you find yourself feeling worse and worse for Campbell the entire film. The ending was smart and I loved how the film concluded.

Overall this is a well put together picture that's worth your time. I would score this an 8/10 and strongly recommend it.

Decent acting, trippy story, but just really kinda sad. There were sympathetic characters and makes you wonder: How far would you go to save someone you love?? Worth a 1 time watch if you like this genre.

Three thrifty siblings have a special need that forces them into a gruesome trade in society's cast-offs.

Downbeat drama of troubled co-dependency that kept me engaged all the way. There are many quiet scenes, with the characters sometimes barely responsive to each other, but directed and edited with expertise so that the whole thing flows, with help from excellent cinematography and score. Performances too are excellent, so a toast all round - a beaker of blood, my good man!

But it's a light-touch horror, and tending more to the survivalist genre, which I think is a peculiarly American phenomenon, one I don't really get. I prefer a horror to have a weird narrative that maps onto common struggles and fears, so that the extravagance leads to a hidden truth about our place in life. This is too straight a story, and even with its unanswered questions seems strangely plausible in the lonesome alienation of the mid-west.

Overall: Quality production, but not sure horror was the right way to go.

It is a unique original horror film that is very beautifully written and shot. It has a really catchy idea that is both creepy and heartbreaking. It is so simple yet it has a very creepy atmosphere without any forced efforts. Performances are superb. If you're into indie horrors then My Heart Can't Beat Until You Tell It To is a must see.

Dark, sad storytelling. Not for the viewer looking for Jason, Freddy, Dracula or Frankenstein. No instant gratification, nor are you spoon fed all aspects of the story. A dark contemporary drama that explores what sacrifices may be made and how far family might go for a sick loved one. Truly horrific.