Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-24 09:42:32

Confusing plot, actors mumble

There was something satisfying about the way the main character kept offing those who had killed his heart donor. But most of the time it was difficult to figure the story, and we were painfully aware that all the actors (but most particularly the female doctor who was the love interest), kept swallowing their words so that none of us could hear what was said. Regarding the confusing plot, one of the people with whom I was watching is a cardiologist - well, all of us are certified to be quite intelligent and experienced watchers of art flicks.... I think by the end we understood where the story was headed but were definitely underwhelmed.BTW, this Blu-ray DVD apparently lacks subtitles. We looked for those, as they might have helped us understand the mumbled lines.

2012-05-24 00:23:11

An odd movie, but I liked it.

This review is from: Tell Tale (DVD) This film has some interesting twists to it, and Josh Lucas's character is both a hero and an anti-hero. I thought he did a good job with the role. I missed that emotional depth that he can portray so well, but this picture didn't call for that. Still, I saw a side of his acting range I hadn't seen before, and he did as well with the character as anyone else could have. I adored the little girl who played his daughter, and it was great to see a story featuring a relationship between the male and female lead that lasted longer than about two minutes of an entire movie.

beverlyhellbillys 2012-05-20 18:27:41

I'd watch it again!

I picked this up at Blockbuster over the weekend (because I think thelead man, Josh Lucas, is heart-stopping handsome--no pun intended!),and I was quite pleasantly surprised.The Rhode Island setting is beautiful, the plot is definitelyintriguing and the characters are dear. I really felt for this singlefather whose life has been turned upside-down and his moralitycompromised by the supernatural powers his angry heart holds.It's true that this Edgar Allan Poe adaptation is VERY loose; it's more"inspired by" Poe's short story than anything else, but hey, the taleinspired a great film!

jfff7773 2012-05-20 00:50:02

"Yeah, that's one helluva ticker"

This is a very good flick on many levels. First of all, Josh Lucas isgreat in the lead role and this is the 1st time I've seen him as themain man in a flick. He does a more than credible job as the man withthe transplanted heart. Lena Heady and the always fantastic Brian Coxround out a great cast. Second, Tell-Tale recalls the best of Asianthrillers,like "The Hand" and "The Eye" that also had great remakes.Thirdly, the storyline has enough twists and turns in it to distinguishitself from story lines of a similar nature like the aforementionedflix and others. This is the kind of material that it's easy to getcarried away with, but everyone ,from Director Cuesta on down,underplays it just enough to make the movie a highly enjoyable watch.

Melissa Mendelson 2012-05-16 08:42:47

Heartwork of Suspense

A cry for help was a dagger to his heart. Fragments of memory, momentsnot his crashed into view, and the adrenaline rush of revenge surgedthrough his veins. They had to pay. He had to make them pay, but couldhe live with the haunting images of their death? He wanted to walkaway, but his heart told him different. He had no choice, and now theywere coming for him. He stepped into their trap, taking the bait, andthey were going to end this, silence him before the truth escaped. Butwere they prepared for all that his heart would tell, the vengefulspirit itching to take them down? What secrets would surface across therivers of their blood, and what life waited to be lived when justicewas finally answered? A riveting tale of suspense is echoing across thepages of Poe and beating deep, deep into the far reaches of one man'sjourney between life and death.

2012-05-16 03:21:25

Bad film, bad blu-ray ...

This movie is bad, and the blu-ray video quality sometimes is bad too. It looks like an excellent DVD in a few scenes and a so so DVD in most parts of it. I can't understand the people who make this things! I think they need a doctor!

Newt Rox 2012-05-09 09:20:47

Don't compare this TV writer's screenplay to Poe.

******* DEFINITE MAJOR SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW ****** Single dad Terry (Josh Lucas) lives with his young daughter Angela(Beatrice Miller) who has a rare terminal disease. Terry has had arecent heart transplant, to which he seems to have adapted healthily,but he slowly becomes consumed by the tortured persona of the heart'sdonor through the extraordinary heart that follows no law of nature,science or physics.The donor was a terminally ill man who'd put his name on an organ donorlist and was then prematurely murdered by organ harvesters. He diedwatching them murder his wife too, which gives the film its impetus.Terry trudges through the film, coping with his psychoses, blackouts,and flashbacks of the donor's murder scene. He finds out the identitiesof his donor and those involved in the transplant. Discovering in anews article that the donor was murdered, he then seeks the bad guys.The film has its "Death Wish" moments as Terry is quietly egged on toavenge the still-unsolved murder by the annoying detective (Brian Cox)assigned to the original homicide. As the bad guys start to die, thedetective has enough evidence to bring Terry in, but actually aidsTerry because he has his own reason for seeing vengeance meted out. Thefilm tends to the morose, as Terry inexplicably morphs into a schizoid,psychological mess, struggling through his new quest. Yet there areuplifting scenes of the star's relationships with his daughter andgirlfriend.The dialog tends to drag. The plot and characters can become fairlyunbelievable. Despite decent action several times I viewed the actorsas if I were on a distant treetop, wondering at the lack of a sense ofthrill or horror, and at how remarkably unscary and un-engrossing thisfilm got.Terry carries the burden of the driven, tormented heart recipient --barely -- yet his character's dialog is handled in a heavy-handed,insensitive manner. The acting of Lena Headey as his girlfriendElizabeth, a caring, no-nonsense physician and lover, is enjoyable. Butwhen Headey is forced to watch horrific surgical procedures performedon her beloved Terry she is dead-pan. She may have picked up this stoicbehavior from repeatedly watching Summer Glau get blown to bits in lastTV season's "Terminator - Sarah Connors Chronicles," canceled after oneseason. The attractive Headey started acting as an adult 20 years ago,has worked mostly in television, and as far as I can tell has had aless-than-earth-shattering career, despite the proclivity of directorsto cast her in tight jeans.For the vengeance to have been more credible and make more sense thereshould have been a stronger, more interesting, contemporaneous tie-into the harvester ringleaders, including the surgeon. Perhaps this partcould have been turned out to be Terry's cold-blooded cardiologist. Oreven Elizabeth.Ironically in the end it's revealed that the heart was ordered up byElizabeth, who was treating Terry's daughter and became attached to her-- Elizabeth didn't want Terry to exit this planet quite so soon. She'dasked dodgy co-workers at the hospital to get her a heart,"no-questions-asked," which Terry is not too happy to hear.This ending and the final surgery was a stretch but I enjoyed it. Ialso enjoyed the film's rudimentary ethics question of whether murdercan be condoned if it benefits the perpetuity of family. Terry seems bythen to have completely adopted the victim's loss and sense of rightand wrong, and it trumps his love for Elizabeth and his desire to havehis daughter taken care of. Another view might be that his HEART wasletting its love for its donor's wife trump everything.The rental didn't have captioning, which made Headey hard tounderstand, since she spoke quickly and with an English accent. This istrue of some of the other dialog.Filmed in gorgeous Providence, Rhode Island.I wouldn't compare this to Poe though I admit that -- for a sadisticheart thief -- death by defibrillator is a poetic one.

2012-05-08 19:53:52

good solid thriller

This review is from: Tell Tale (DVD) I enjoyed this movie; it kept me on the edge of my seat and the twist at the end was neat.

MarieGabrielle 2012-05-06 14:23:24

Pretty well-done...

An obvious re-make of the Poe story, there is good suspense here andJosh Lucas makes the character noteworthy and sympathetic.There is a side-story with his daughter also being sick as he isrecipient of a heart transplant. Lucas begins to investigate the deathof his donor Jean Vielliard, whom he finds out murdered himself and hiswife. Brian Cox is very good as usual, as a detective who is aware thatsuspicious deaths are happening around the hospital.While the story has been done, this has a decent twist, a good scenewith Dallas Roberts as an evil transplant surgeon, and overallinteresting viewing.Anyone interested in the actual Edgar Allen Poe story should watch theVincent Price film, and also there was a very good version on PBS inthe late 80's starring Treat Williams as the murderer. Worth viewingand a good tale. 9/10.

Ricardo Camacho 2012-05-06 00:41:34

Great take on an Edgar Allen Poe story

I have to admit when I first heard about this film I was veryskeptical, seeing as Edgar Allen Poe's story was one of my favoritesgrowing up. Tell Tale takes the original Poe idea and successfullyexpands on it, giving it a modern day twist.The film follows a man who has recently received a heart transplantfrom a person who was brutally murdered for their organs. The story'smain character soon begins an investigation that challenges his verysanity.Josh Lucas as the lead does an excellent job. Lucas who has abackground of starring in indie horror films like Session 9, deliversyet again with a solid performance the viewer can identify with.Tell Tale does have some weaknesses like most indie horror films do,mainly do to budget restrictions but its a decent effort.Overall, Tell Tale is worth watching.

is_fixx 2012-05-02 10:54:09

a B category film

Well the movie is not great, but not the worst there is. Terry, is asingle dad, taking care of his 10 year old daughter Angela who issuffering from a rare disease, Terry himself being recovering after aheart transplant. Step by step he notices changes in his behavior andactions, and his pulse starts to accelerate when he encounters somepeople at the clinic he had the transplant. He also has flashbacks andmemories of the one who donated the heart. After making some researchon his own, he finds that his donor was murderer during a possiblerobbery, but the suspects were never found. Putting things together, herealizes that 4 employees from the clinic were involved in murderinghis donor and he starts to take revenge against them, being lead by hisheart impulses. The action is quite thrilling, but the lines are dull,and some scenes maybe too gore. Well.. that's almost it, the end isquite surprising leaving the audience in doubt.

judy 2012-05-02 03:26:24

Josh Lucas gave a great performance!

I thought this movie was awesome. Josh Lucas gives an outstanding performance. He draws a strong pathos and had my sympathy all the way. Lena Headey was excellent too. Really worth seeing.

sol1218 2012-04-30 08:10:15

The heart is a vengeful hunter

***SPOILERS*** Updated version of Edger Allen Poe's 1843 horror classicthe "Tell Tale Heart" the film "Tell-Tale" takes place in modernProvidence Road Island involving heart transplant recipient TerryBernard,Josh Lucas. Since his heart transplant Terry has been havingnightmares of him being brutally murdered by a gang of home invaderstogether with his wife.It's when Terry is getting a checkup at the Providence Hospital wherehis heart transplant operation was preformed that he spies on hismedical records telling him that the person who's heart was donated tohim was murder victim Jean P. Viellard! It just so happens that the EMSworker who was at the scene of Viellard's murder was Kevin Stanovich,Jamie Harrold, who works in the very hospital where Terry got his hearttransplant! Terry becomes so obsessed in finding out about the personwho's heart is keeping him alive that he gets in touch with thedetective in charge of the investigation of the Viellard murder PhilVan Doren, Brian Cox, whom as it later turns out knows a lot more aboutthe case then his report on it indicates!In the film we also have Terry's seven year old daughter and the appleof his eye Angela, Beatrice Miller, who's suffering from an incurablebone disease who in all likeliness will not survive adulthood. There'salso Terry's live-in girlfriend Elizabert Clemson, Lena Headly, adoctor at the Providence hospital where he was operated on. It's thesweet loving and caring Elizabeth who's been giving Terry the veryvital emotional support that he needs to get over his obsession overwho's heart, that's keeping him alive, it is that's pumping inside him.***SPOILERS*** As we and Terry soon find out the circumstances thatlead to his heart transplant were not quite as simple as he at firstimagined! He in fact got his heart through an underground criminalorgan donation racket that originated right inside the hospital wherehe was a patient in! It was then that the mild mannered and wimp likeTerry subconsciously tracked down those who murdered his heart donorand his wife and exacted brutal justice on them!***MAJOR SPOILER*** Thebiggest shock off all for Terry was saved for the end of the movie: Injust who was unknowingly responsible for the Vieillard murders and thevery 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 inNew York City on April 24, 2009 a person watching the movie almostdropped dead from from sheer fright, he was later revived by members ofa local hospital EMS unit, some 15 minutes before the movie Tell-Taleended. This had the showing,together with the films surprise ending,postponed for some 90 minutes until the man, with the help of the EMSpersonnel, was able to regain consciousness!

m10001 2012-04-30 00:23:57

A Strange Left-Handed Kind of a Movie, a Good B Movie

After watching a lot of movies shot in Canada for the tax credit, Ithought this was another one of them. Providence is a strange lookingplace, and except for the capitol building, it looked like Canada tome. I am glad to have gotten to see what it looks like. It's kind ofdisappointing that it turns out to look like some place not so muchdifferent from Quebec, down to the French business names. A movie aboutvigilantism usually gets its tension from the conflict between themorality of the vigilante's actions and the prudence of having andusing a legal system. This movie tends to minimize even the imprudenceof vigilante action, which waters down his desperation and the tensionin the film. The continuity of this movie is noticeably off. Theprotagonist's hair style is noticeably different between one scene andthe next one in continuity. Josh Lucas's performance is narrow inrange. So is Brian Cox's, but that may be attributable to the murkinessof his motivation in the script. Lena Hedley's performance isspellbinding. She's a convincing medical expert, always dignified andcaring, but a passionate lover. Beatrice Miller's a cute kid and a goodactor.

bigdarvick 2012-04-28 08:01:39

There were many Tell Tale signs that this was a turkey

It wasn't awful in the Ed Wood sense of the word awful. It justdraaaagged-- as if the actors had taken some very strong downers. Thedialog was unintentionally funny, because it was so predictable and nottoo well written--plus, the lead actor who played the single dad namedTerry, had this "I'm scared" look on his face throughout at least 75%of this film. For the remaining 25% of the movie, he looked like asthough he was always about to burst into tears.Loosley (an understatement) based story on Poe's The Tell Tale Heart.This is a prime example of ruining a literary masterpiece of horror.Poe,(if alive)would've driven a stake through the screenwriter's heart,then buried him under the floor boards. The flick portrayed the storyas kind of a horror, suspense, action mish mosh. Unfortunately, therewas little of any horror, suspense or action. It had the overall feelof some "made for TV" mega flop. In the film, there was a surprise hereand there, but no big deal. We've seen 'em before in other movies.Nothing seemed to gel here, it was like eating runny jello in it'searly cooling stages before it firms up. It's all sloppy and difficultto get on a spoon to eat. Too frustrating and not worth the effort.Watch this movie only if you are on Quaaludes.

2012-04-27 21:25:41

Refreshing outlook on The Tell Tale Heart

Tell Tale is a modern adaptation of Poe's The Tell Tale Heart. Thismovie contains all aspects of an independent hit film. Charactersundergo change, there is conflict and resolution, and a twist all theway through to keep you on the edge of your seats til the end. Ienjoyed watching Terry slowly put together the pieces of his mysteryheart as he also tries to maintain his sanity and take care of hisdaughter. This movie takes on more of the thriller aspect than a horroras Poe intended but I feel writing it as a thriller did Poe justice.Since it was an adaptation I feel the direction the film went wasjustified. I would definitely recommend this movie to all and wouldwatch it again.

collipal-1 2012-04-25 03:40:20

Unsatisfactory and tedious

Even though it pretends to be a free adaptation of the classic shortstory The Tell-Tale Heart, written by the great Edgar Allan Poe(1809-1849), the film Tell-Tale is in fact a rehash of the oldsub-genus of "malignant part of the body", which includes horror moviessuch as The Hand, Body Parts and The Eye. Those films showed how anorgan transplanted from one body to the other can produce unexpectedeffects, usually with tragic consequences to the patient (or victim) ofthe procedure. And even though Tell-Tale has a few positive elements,its tedious narrative and bland drama ended up producing a boring andunsatisfactory film experience.There are two predictable twists in Tell-Tale: the first one isrevealed pretty soon, and the other one, at the ending. And besides ofthat, this film is basically a collection of long and uninterestingscenes in which we see the main character afflicted by events he doesnot understand; the treatment for his daughter's illness; and theinsipid romance he was with a doctor. And the worst thing of all isthat none of those elements substantially contribute to the story, andthey feel as simple fillers so that the time goes through while thereare not murder scenes.Tell-Tale includes elements from a medical drama, a thriller and ahorror film which deals with supernatural subjects...however, there isnot an adequate cohesion between them. On the positive side, JoshLucas, Lena Headey, Brian Cox and Beatrice Miller bring solidperformances despite having such poor material to work with. So, inconclusion, I cannot recommend Tell-Tale, because I found it to be avery boring movie which lacks of any emotion, impact or suspense.

sharviel 2012-04-24 21:53:04

Great twists

While not following Poe step by step...this movie was so refreshingfrom all the other "transplant possession" movies. Great twist! Lovedit! As usual Lucas gives a stellar performance and the ending was trulythe icing on the cake! I sure didn't see that coming!His confusion and horror at his actions was palpable and I especiallylove that the writers didn't "talk down" to the audience and kepteverything very subtle so as to force the audience to figure it out forourselves. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes this type of movie butperhaps is tired of the usual "donor was murdered and possesses thedonee (or whatever they're called) in order to find the murderer" typeof movies. This one takes that and gives it several big twists all theway to the very last scene of the movie. Loved it!

2012-04-24 10:38:05

Never a slow moment - excellent flick!

I knew that Tell Tale wouldn't be a remake of the Poe classic, but I certainly wasn't disappointed in this film. I thought I had the ending figured out, but was fooled! (Glad it ended the way it did).I always enjoy watching Josh Lucas work, this was another nice performance. (He always looks so worried!) The other actors in the film were quite good. My only complaint is that there was absolutely NO reason to have use of the tobacco drug in the film. C'mon, no decent restaurant allows smoking. (When will the filmmakers learn!)

rossp23 2012-04-24 00:29:22

Better than you think!

First off, this is not any kind of interpretation of Poe's story;Modern or otherwise. The only thing similar is that the main charactercan hear a heart beat, sometimes. Suspense is held throughout themovie! It held my full attention and I couldn't wait to see whathappened next. That's all I will say about the actual plot to not spoilanything. There is graphic violence, and overall the film has adepressing mood to it. Why then did I give a 7? The acting by everyoneis great..except for the English doctor's! it was horrendous! Her linessucked and she made me feel awkward. So bad that it takes away from therest of the movie. Overall, a good flick to check out.