Tell Tale (2009)

A man's newly transplanted heart leads him on a dangerous journey to find out who murdered its donor.

Director:

Michael Cuesta

Writers:

Dave Callaham (screenplay) (as David Callaham), Edgar Allan Poe (short story "The Tell-Tale Heart") (as Edgar Allen Poe)

Stars:

Josh Lucas, Lena Headey, Brian Cox

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Josh Lucas	...	Terry Bernard
Lena Headey	...	Elizabeth Clemson
Brian Cox	...	Phillip Van Doren
Bea Miller	...	Angela Bernard (as Beatrice Miller)
Jamie Harrold	...	Kevin Stanovich
Michael Kenneth Williams	...	Acherton
Pablo Schreiber	...	Bernard Cochius
Tom Riis Farrell	...	Legethon
Ulrich Thomsen	...	Doctor Lethe
Dallas Roberts	...	The Surgeon
Cassandre Fiering	...	Frances Vieillard
Peg Holzemer	...	Elderly Woman In Wheelchair (as Peg Saurman Holzemer)
Scott Winters	...	Doctor Averman
Kara Lund	...	Nurse
John Timothy Botka	...	Police Officer

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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Plot Keywords:

donor | police detective | glass shard | hairy chest | death | 

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Taglines:

Truth Lies a Heartbeat Away.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violent content, language and a scene of sexuality

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 August 2010 (France)

Also Known As:

Tell Tale

Filming Locations:

Benefit Street, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Artina Films, Oceana Media Finance, Poe Boy Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (FotoKem)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When lead character meets Acherton in bathroom his name-tag says Michael Acherton after he is called the detective refers to him as Paul Acherton.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Paramedic: [over radio] Dispatch this is Rescue 3. I have a 55 year old white male named Lyar, John. He has massive blunt trauma to the skull. Glasgow Coma Score is 1, Henry 3. Patient has ID in his wallet identifying him as an organ donor. Alert trauma and transport team.
Dispatcher: Copy that.

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Connections

Version of The Telltale Heart (1928)

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Soundtracks

The Torture
Written by Leslie Stevens
Performed by Leslie and the Badgers

User Reviews

A riff on the Edgar Allan Poe story

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.