Tell Tale (2009)

• Year: 2009
• Released: 31 Dec 2009
• Country: United Kingdom, United States
• Adwords: 1 nomination
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135095/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Tell_Tale
• Available in: 720p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
• Runtime: 93 min
• Writer: Dave Callaham, Edgar Allan Poe
• Director: Michael Cuesta
• Cast: Josh Lucas, Lena Headey, Brian Cox
• Keywords: murder, detective, hospital, flashback, paranoia,

5.4/10

Tell Tale Storyline

In Providence, a husband and wife die in a botched robbery; we see flickers of his last memories. His heart goes to Terry Bernard, a single father raising a girl with a rare degenerative disease. After the operation, Terry has flashes of memory from the last moments of the dead donor’s life. Then, he recognizes one of the donor’s killers and follows him into an alley. Within days, Terry becomes an unwilling avenger, with a police detective on his trail. Meanwhile, he begins a romance with his daughter’s doctor, his moods complicated by memory flashes, the donor’s deepening presence in both Terry’s mind and body, and the unexplained bond among the donor’s killers. Can this end well?

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Tell Tale Movie Reviews

missing the guilt

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.

Grizzly and Disturbing…Disconnected and Vague

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.

Better than you think!

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.