The Tell-Tale Heart is a 2009 short film written and directed by Robert Eggers. It is based on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe.
Synopsis[]
Within the chambers of a desolate house, a solitary servant tends to his invalid master. Tangibly detailed period design and hauntingly lifelike puppetry unearth the dreamworld of Poe.
Plot[]
In a stately manor house, the invalid master of the house calls upon his servant by ringing a bell. The servant carries, feeds and cleans up after his master, dreading and hating every moment he spends in the sickly old man's presence. This process repeats itself for a week, at which point the servant breaks his pocket watch in frustration rather than wind it again.
The servant tends to his his master
On the eighth night, the servant enters the master's bedroom. The master wakes and demands to know who is there, at which point the servant shines his lantern in the master's eye. Overcome with rage, the servant smothers the master to death with his own bedsheets. He then carries the body down into the basement, cuts it into pieces and buries it beneath the floorboards before hearing a knock on the front door.
The Detective Inspector and two officers arrive to investigate a scream
The servant answers the door and finds the Detective Inspector there with two policemen. They tell him that there has been a report lodged of a screaming coming from the house. They ask to come in and he grants them entry. They ask to speak with the master, but the servant tells them that he is away in the country. He leads them upstairs and offers them brandy.
The servant confesses to killing his master
They spend much time drinking and laughing together as he entertains them with stories and jokes. However, he is soon distracted by the sound of a ringing bell and the poilce rise from their seats with sinister smiles and advance on him. The floor seems to thud beneath him with the rhythm of a beating heart. As they close in around him, he explodes with guilt and admits the deed. They seem to vanish as he shouts that he hears the beating of the master's hideous heart beneath the floorboards.
Cast[]
- Carrington Vilmont as The Servant
- Richard Easton as The Old Man (voice)
- Dan Charlton as The Detective Inspector
Production[]
Filming[]
The film was shot in Lee, New Hampshire.[1]
