User reviews

I liked Josh Lucas in The Client, so I chose this film as a rental. Don't ask me why because horror/thriller/blood is just not my thing.

A husband and wife die in a botched robbery, and the man's heart goes to Terry Bernard, a single father of a daughter with a degenerative disorder. Terry keeps remembering bits and pieces from what must have been the donor's last moments. He starts being able to hear his heart beat. Then he sees one of the donor's killers and does away with him.

Terry is tortured by the sound of his heart, the fact that he's killed, and the flashes of memory he has. But he continues finding the killers and getting rid of them. Meanwhile he is starting a romance with an attractive doctor at the hospital who wants to help him, but he won't tell her what's wrong. The only person who knows his secret is the officer who was in charge of the case but couldn't close it. He wants Terry to do what he can't - get justice.

You may like this if you're into horror-type films. I have to say I liked the ending very much, and it really brought the level of the film up. And the story is intriguing.

This could have been a bigger, better film, but given its budget, it does well enough.

It wasn't awful in the Ed Wood sense of the word awful. It just draaaagged-- as if the actors had taken some very strong downers. The dialog was unintentionally funny, because it was so predictable and not too well written--plus, the lead actor who played the single dad named Terry, had this "I'm scared" look on his face throughout at least 75% of this film. For the remaining 25% of the movie, he looked like as though he was always about to burst into tears.

Loosley (an understatement) based story on Poe's The Tell Tale Heart. This is a prime example of ruining a literary masterpiece of horror. Poe,(if alive)would've driven a stake through the screenwriter's heart, then buried him under the floor boards. The flick portrayed the story as kind of a horror, suspense, action mish mosh. Unfortunately, there was little of any horror, suspense or action. It had the overall feel of some "made for TV" mega flop. In the film, there was a surprise here and there, but no big deal. We've seen 'em before in other movies. Nothing seemed to gel here, it was like eating runny jello in it's early cooling stages before it firms up. It's all sloppy and difficult to get on a spoon to eat. Too frustrating and not worth the effort. Watch this movie only if you are on Quaaludes.

First off, this is not any kind of interpretation of Poe's story; Modern or otherwise. The only thing similar is that the main character can hear a heart beat, sometimes. Suspense is held throughout the movie! It held my full attention and I couldn't wait to see what happened next. That's all I will say about the actual plot to not spoil anything. There is graphic violence, and overall the film has a depressing mood to it. Why then did I give a 7? The acting by everyone is great..except for the English doctor's! it was horrendous! Her lines sucked and she made me feel awkward. So bad that it takes away from the rest of the movie. Overall, a good flick to check out.

So this is a movie based on one of Edgar Allan Poe's popular short stories. Although it's not all that close to it, except the movie deals with heartbeats and murders. Josh Lucas is the main protagonist in this movie and he plays a single father raising a daughter that has an illness. But when he gets a heart transplant and meets a female doctor that he starts a relationship with, things start to change. Especially within himself. Josh Lucas is actually really good in this, in fact he sort of reminds me of an American version of Daniel Craig. The thing is the beginning interested me than the rest of the movie. The mystery of trying to figure out what is going on kinda drives this movie. But when finding out what is going on, it just basically goes in a narrow and not very interesting direction. Overall the mystery aspect of this movie is kinda interesting but the rest is just mundane.

5.5/20

The plot: a man receives a heart transplant, only to find himself forced by the donor's spirit to avenge the donor's brutal murder.

Let's be honest here. Once you find out that a person in a horror movie has had a transplant, there's only two possible ways it can go: 1) He turns into a serial killer or 2) He's forced to solve the mystery / avenge the death of the donor. That's it. Those are the only two possible plots allowed by hack screen writing convention. Sometimes, if you're Asian, you're allowed to see ghosts, but that's an Asian-only power.

Now, I could be wrong, but I don't remember anyone going on a rampage of vengeance in The Tell-Tale Heart. In fact, as I recall, it's purely a tale of psychological horror. Tell Tale, on the other hand, is pretty much a Death Wish ripoff, with a few cheesy elements of Body Parts grafted on. There's also some filler side-stories involving a romance, a disabled daughter, and a dogged cop.

Tell-Tale isn't all bad. It's actually fairly enjoyable, if you're willing to overlook the more clichéd, derivative elements and focus on what does work. In the end, it's basically just violent exploitation. If you're looking for something more than that, then I don't think you'll like Tell Tale very much. It has moments where it rises above that, but then it abandons them and sinks right back down again. As other reviewers have noted, it can be frustrating seeing the movie that could have been.

I picked this up at Blockbuster over the weekend (because I think the lead man, Josh Lucas, is heart-stopping handsome--no pun intended!), and I was quite pleasantly surprised.

The Rhode Island setting is beautiful, the plot is definitely intriguing and the characters are dear. I really felt for this single father whose life has been turned upside-down and his morality compromised by the supernatural powers his angry heart holds.

It's true that this Edgar Allan Poe adaptation is VERY loose; it's more "inspired by" Poe's short story than anything else, but hey, the tale inspired a great film!

After receiving a heart transplant, genuinely nice guy Lucas encounters both the very attractive female doctor who cares for his seriously ill daughter and visions of murder and mayhem he has to make sense of. Very loosely based on Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," which is at its core an inner monologue of a mad man that lasts only a few pages, scribe Dave Callaham expanded, embellished and embroidered the story for the modern age. In the gifted hands of helmer Michael Cuesta ("L.I.E.," "Twelve and Holding," TV's "Dexter") the so-so plot gets elevated to art-house standards with Lena Headley and Josh Lucas oozing believable chemistry, and the always exceptional Brian Cox making a lasting impression as a cop with an agenda of his own. Ends as abruptly as a punch in the guts, but it's definitely worth a glimpse

3/26/18. I like Lucas and Headey, but not so much this movie. While it was more atmospheric than good storytelling, you decide if that would be worth your time to watch it.

Terry Bernard (Josh Lucas) is in love with his daughter's doctor Elizabeth Clemson (Lena Headey). He had a heart transplant. He has visions from his pounding heart. He recognizes the paramedic attacking him in the vision and tries to confront him. A fight ensues and Terry accidentally kills him. He discovers the identity of the heart donor and contacts police detective Phillip Van Doren (Brian Cox) who investigated the case. He uncovers a dark conspiracy and a secret pointed right at his heart.

This is suppose to be a reworking of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". I didn't really get the reference the first time I watched it. There's a reason for that. Terry is not guilty of anything. That's the whole point of the Poe story but I guess the writer missed that. The hearts of the two stories are completely different.

I love all three main actors but the story lacks intensity. The mystery of the story is never really in doubt. It's simply about the identity of the villains. It would have worked a lot better if Terry paid for the heart.

Okay, I'm not gonna say anything at all like 'This was the worst movie ever', because it certainly is not.

BUT... 'Painful', yes. Okay, sure this is a very familiar idea, fine; that doesn't bother me at all. There are a LOT of reworked ideas that we see done over and over all the time, and for me anyway as long as the film is done well they don't ALL have to be totally original. Just about ANY story based however loosely on POE is great with me (same thing with Philip K. Dick)

BUT... That's not it. First off, I am REALLY surprised that this is a Scott Free production. I'm amazed that the Scott Brothers had anything at all to do with this director, period. And that, in my lowly and wretched opinion, is precisely what is wrong with this film. The director. I mean, couldn't ol' Ridley and Tony at least have found a better director? Geez...

One word: Amateurish.

I know that word is probably overworked here, but that truly is what I believe killed this film. Not overtly HORRIBLE, no... But, enough little things that added up so that by about 30 minutes I was so irritated, that I had indeed had quite enough.

Here are just a few things, and no, they in themselves are not really awful, but to me anyway they're so obvious that it REALLY takes you right out of the film. First off, and I KNOW many are gonna think this is really silly, but ANY director that for some bizarre unknown reason HAS to have the characters giving their dialog while they are chewing their food 4 FRIGG'N TIMES in the first 20 minutes is an amateur. I know, I know, it may seem petty, but it's like the director somehow thinks that this makes the movie more 'Real to Life' somehow as if any of us are interested in seeing about a third of the dialog given with their mouth's full (like 'Ooh, see this is what REAL people do' - uh huh... apparently they must do it frigg'n CONSTANTLY by how much it is portrayed here.

Second, and much more annoying and a sure sign to me anyway that the director is an amateur (BTW, when I use 'amateur', I mean in this context an UNTALENTED amateur - many first time 'amateur' directors CAN be absolutely brilliant!) is when the sound design is SO horribly UNnatural that every little rustle of paper and every little movement is amplified and raised to ridiculously artificial levels. And God forbid anyone should poor a drink clear across the room without the ear shattering sound of the liquid hitting the glass (Oh yeah, VERY realistic there...) Like I said, Amateur Time... (Now, I admit that these two areas regarding the 'sound' particularly annoy me - perhaps they wouldn't bother someone else as much)

Next, the script itself is really trying. And I don't mean 'Trying' as in really making an attempt either. First, the little girl (who is very cute and lovely, BTW) spouts these completely unrealistic lines that a six year old would never likely say. And DON'T get me started on the 'romantic' interplay between the two leads; can you say 'AWKWARD'...?

So, it honestly is a shame that this film wasn't placed in MUCH better hands; even with the moderately painful dialog, at least with a good director, it could have been possible to improve the quality and bring out better performances. Then, perhaps this movie might have had a chance to be quite good. But no...

Sadly, in a word...

Painful...

This one feels disconnected and rambling at times and at other times it is a rather effective Horror Movie with enough interest to keep things pumping along. The exposition is the trouble in this sometimes disturbing display that could have been cooked up by an early David Cronenberg.

Things are a bit unclear at times and some more clarity and explanations are called for as the separation between the Audience and the Film oscillates drawing one with a caring for the Characters but motivations and situations are frustratingly vague.

The transplanted Heart beneath the chest-boards of the Protagonist is the Paranormal tie to Poe, but that is inconsequential here and only matters in an off-handed Title and that's where it stays, unless you count the thump-thump-thump-thump. By itself, this is grizzly enough for Gore-Hounds and the Physical Maladies of the Father-Daughter are both empathetic and unsettling.

Worth a View for Fans of the Horrific and the Creepy, but those looking for tight Crime elements and want more definition to the proceedings may be disappointed.

'Tell Tale' pays homage to one of American history's greatest horror authors, editors, and literary critics; Edgar Allan Poe. Most of us have read 'The tell-tale heart' at some point in school, and tells the tale of an unnamed narrator who slowly, and without much remorse, confesses to the murder of his employer - the man with the 'evil eye'. It was (and is) considered one of the most horrifying tales of the macabre at that point, as the speaker describes the reasons, methods, and means of murdering his master, and the madness that eventually causes him to confess.

Although 'Tell Tale' is an interesting movie to watch, it is only loosely based on the original Poe story. They are completely different in every way, as this film is more of a strange, psychological ghost story. It is an interesting film nevertheless, but it bears no resemblance to Poe's famous short story.

The film centers on Terry Bernard, a young father, and a man who receives a much needed heart transplant just in the nick of time. Slowly his life returns to normal, he is a man in love, and a very dutiful father... but it all begins to change rapidly when he suffers from a supernatural assault on his memory. Remembrances of a man murdered, and a life not his own.

There is some really wonderful casting in this movie, especially the renowned Brian Cox, who plays a retired detective who views the whole thing so skeptically, that it's hard to understand why he would become involved until much later in the film. Josh Lucas as the lead, does a fantastic job of portraying a man who is very much being tortured, mind, body, and soul. His love interest played by Lena Heady (of Game Of Thrones fame), is a very welcome addition. Her devotion to him wavers at times due the subsequent changes in the man she loves, but she carries an immense secret throughout the movie.

Overall, it's a very unique take on Poe's work, yet I would say only mildly influenced by it. It could be rather predictable at times, but it is well acted throughout.

6/10

Bearing only the most tenacious of links to the Poe story, Josh Lucas is convincing enough, nonetheless, as Terry, ,a single dad who has a desperate need to find out where his new heart has come from. A quest that leads him further down the rabbit hole of murder. Brian Cox is, as always, a joy to watch. And although the ending is foreseeable, There're just enough twists and turns along the way to keep my interest piqued and, unlike many films I've seen in the past, after the movie was over I didn't feel like I wasted my time.

My Grade: B-

Where I saw it: Show time Beyond

While this is not the story Poe wrote, it is a great modernized remake of it. In Poe's story, the man has committed a murder and the beating of a heart drives him insane. In this movie, the lead man has received a heart transplant and it has the mind of it's donor. It leads the recipient to specific people which helps him learn more about where his heart came from, the people that made it possible and the means by which it was obtained. Some actual recipients have been known to take on some of the characteristics of their donors and this is where this movie takes us. When a heart transplant occurs, do we question who it came from or just be happy to have it. In receiving this heart, the recipient is able to right some wrongs for the donor. I was pleased with this movie and thought it was well conceived.

This one got promoted to me because I'm a huge Edgar Allan Poe fanatic, and yes, the story is loosely based on the immortal "The Tell-Tale Heart". VERY loosely based, that is. In Poe's short story, a murderer's guilty conscious causes him to hear his victim's beating hard through the wooden floor where he hid the body. In Michael Cuesta's "Tell-Tale", a donor heart manipulates its new owner to hunt down the people who killed the original owner and his wife. That's quite different, and one could easily also state the plot bears also resemblance to - say - Maurice Renard's "The Hands of Orlac".

That said, "Tell-Tale" is interesting enough to watch without linking it to Poe or any other classic novelist. The plot is far-fetched and implausible, but if you manage to look beyond that, it's a compelling thriller with sufficient action, suspense, and a handful of genuinely macabre and grueling horror moments. Any movie featuring clandestine organ trafficking, a grumpy Brian Cox, and random people getting pushed in front of trains must be worth a peek, no?

Tell Tale is a modern adaptation of Poe's The Tell Tale Heart. This movie contains all aspects of an independent hit film. Characters undergo change, there is conflict and resolution, and a twist all the way through to keep you on the edge of your seats til the end. I enjoyed watching Terry slowly put together the pieces of his mystery heart as he also tries to maintain his sanity and take care of his daughter. This movie takes on more of the thriller aspect than a horror as Poe intended but I feel writing it as a thriller did Poe justice. Since it was an adaptation I feel the direction the film went was justified. I would definitely recommend this movie to all and would watch it again.