Tell-Tale

2009
5.4| 1h32m| en
Details

A man's recently transplanted heart leads him on a frantic search to find the donor's killer before a similar fate befalls him.

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Reviews

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
SnoopyStyle 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.
sharviel While not following Poe step by step...this movie was so refreshing from all the other "transplant possession" movies. Great twist! Loved it! As usual Lucas gives a stellar performance and the ending was truly the icing on the cake! I sure didn't see that coming!His confusion and horror at his actions was palpable and I especially love that the writers didn't "talk down" to the audience and kept everything very subtle so as to force the audience to figure it out for ourselves. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes this type of movie but perhaps is tired of the usual "donor was murdered and possesses the donee (or whatever they're called) in order to find the murderer" type of movies. This one takes that and gives it several big twists all the way to the very last scene of the movie. Loved it!
Argemaluco Even though it pretends to be a free adaptation of the classic short story The Tell-Tale Heart, written by the great Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), the film Tell-Tale is in fact a rehash of the old sub-genus of "malignant part of the body", which includes horror movies such as The Hand, Body Parts and The Eye. Those films showed how an organ transplanted from one body to the other can produce unexpected effects, usually with tragic consequences to the patient (or victim) of the procedure. And even though Tell-Tale has a few positive elements, its tedious narrative and bland drama ended up producing a boring and unsatisfactory film experience.There are two predictable twists in Tell-Tale: the first one is revealed pretty soon, and the other one, at the ending. And besides of that, this film is basically a collection of long and uninteresting scenes in which we see the main character afflicted by events he does not understand; the treatment for his daughter's illness; and the insipid romance he was with a doctor. And the worst thing of all is that none of those elements substantially contribute to the story, and they feel as simple fillers so that the time goes through while there are not murder scenes.Tell-Tale includes elements from a medical drama, a thriller and a horror film which deals with supernatural subjects...however, there is not an adequate cohesion between them. On the positive side, Josh Lucas, Lena Headey, Brian Cox and Beatrice Miller bring solid performances despite having such poor material to work with. So, in conclusion, I cannot recommend Tell-Tale, because I found it to be a very boring movie which lacks of any emotion, impact or suspense.
sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** Updated version of Edger Allen Poe's 1843 horror classic the "Tell Tale Heart" the film "Tell-Tale" takes place in modern Providence Road Island involving heart transplant recipient Terry Bernard,Josh Lucas. Since his heart transplant Terry has been having nightmares of him being brutally murdered by a gang of home invaders together with his wife.It's when Terry is getting a checkup at the Providence Hospital where his heart transplant operation was preformed that he spies on his medical records telling him that the person who's heart was donated to him was murder victim Jean P. Viellard! It just so happens that the EMS worker who was at the scene of Viellard's murder was Kevin Stanovich, Jamie Harrold, who works in the very hospital where Terry got his heart transplant! Terry becomes so obsessed in finding out about the person who's heart is keeping him alive that he gets in touch with the detective in charge of the investigation of the Viellard murder Phil Van Doren, Brian Cox, whom as it later turns out knows a lot more about the case then his report on it indicates!In the film we also have Terry's seven year old daughter and the apple of his eye Angela, Beatrice Miller, who's suffering from an incurable bone disease who in all likeliness will not survive adulthood. There's also Terry's live-in girlfriend Elizabert Clemson, Lena Headly, a doctor at the Providence hospital where he was operated on. It's the sweet loving and caring Elizabeth who's been giving Terry the very vital emotional support that he needs to get over his obsession over who's heart, that's keeping him alive, it is that's pumping inside him.***SPOILERS*** As we and Terry soon find out the circumstances that lead to his heart transplant were not quite as simple as he at first imagined! He in fact got his heart through an underground criminal organ donation racket that originated right inside the hospital where he was a patient in! It was then that the mild mannered and wimp like Terry subconsciously tracked down those who murdered his heart donor and his wife and exacted brutal justice on them!***MAJOR SPOILER*** The biggest shock off all for Terry was saved for the end of the movie: In just who was unknowingly responsible for the Vieillard murders and the very sinister and selfish, as well as monetary, reasons behind them!P.S To show you just how incredibly tense and disturbing the film "Tell-Tale" really is at it's premier showing at the Tribica Cinima in New York City on April 24, 2009 a person watching the movie almost dropped dead from from sheer fright, he was later revived by members of a local hospital EMS unit, some 15 minutes before the movie Tell-Tale ended. This had the showing,together with the films surprise ending, postponed for some 90 minutes until the man, with the help of the EMS personnel, was able to regain consciousness!