By: Midnight Movie Mama
#horror – #horrormovies – #horrorreviews – #TheTellTaleHeart –
Director: McClain Lindquist
Writers: John LindquistMcClain LindquistEdgar Allan Poe
Starring: Sonny Grimsley, James C. Morris, Mikah Olsen
“Art is Long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating,
Funeral marches to the grave.”
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Tell Tale Heart starts with the poem of Longfellow, which we all can appreciate pertaining to this infamous story. Much appreciated is the retro-yet-recent feel of the movie. It is something to behold. We follow the caretakers journey in this short film caring for an old man, murder, and a descent into complete madness. Everything one could love about one of Poe’s infamous thrillers, really.
From the very start we can see that the old man’s caretaker has a problem with the old man’s “evil” eye. Although he admittedly loves the old man, this evil eye haunts him and I have to say, it would probably haunt me too. Our caretaker believes that he can actually see hell in the old man’s eye. While the prosthetic used for the facial features of the old man is apparent, it is not so jarring that it takes away from the story, nor the ever important evil eye.
The overall cinematography and acting was good. The glibness of the caretaker is both annoying and amusing. There is a retro-aesthetic for our detective and the female police officer working with him is a spitfire. They are a wonderful clash of an old school Hollywood detective and a modern day strong police woman. As they investigate they cannot seem to get a straight answer out of the riddlesome caretaker, especially as he begins to delve deeper into his own madness.
I would again say that the stroke of genius comes with that of the caretakers unraveling as he is interrogated. Once we get a glimpse as to what he has done, it is only a matter of time before his sanity starts to unravel before our very eyes. What originally brought the police into this matter? Screaming. Who was screaming? The caretaker.
The extremely gory dismembering and beheading of the old man’s body by the caretaker is an unforgettable sight indeed. It is now that we will begin to see why those floor boards are a source of madness for him – the heart beat of the old man whose body the caretaker hid under the floorboards.
I found the ending to be perfectly fitting for the movie. The caretaker has gone completely mad, alone in a room with the knife he used to stab the evil eye with.
Overall this short was an entertaining take on one of my favorite works of Poe.
Rating: 6/10