The Tell Tale Heart (1989) User Reviews

The crazed narrator ensures hes not mad but his actions and motivations are not logical.

[T-Garcia727 · 8/10 · 16 September 2006]

Overall this film version of Poe's "Tell Tale Heart" was well made. It was dark, the pace was right and the music matched the morbid tone. The actor who played the narrator made an exceptional performance. The director captured the suspense of the story despite the fact that i had already read it and knew exactly what was going to happen. The director also comes up with an identity for the narrator that seems rather accurate. The only problem with this film was the lighting. It was did not capture the feeling that was expressed in Poe's original version. The lighting was not dark enough. In fact it was way too bright! Nevertheless i recommend this film to those who have read "The Tell Tale Heart"because it's suspensively amusing.

Great Lead Performance

[Michael_Elliott · 21 February 2017]

The Tell Tale Heart (1989)

** (out of 4)

Edgar Allen Poe's famous story gets yet another treatment in this twenty-minute short. A narrator (Nathalie Bilodeau) tells us the story of a man who kills an old man (Dennis St. Johns) and soon his conscience begins to haunt him.

This here is without a doubt my favorite Poe story so I try to watch as many versions of it as I can. This one here was certainly well-made and featured a terrific lead performance but there was just something about it that kept me from fully enjoying it. I honestly just had a hard time being captivated by the story and the film never managed to really grab my attention and hold onto it. It's one of those movies where you know it's well-made and you can see what an excellent performance Bilodeau is giving but at the same time you just get distracted and lose focus on the picture.