TELL TALE (2009)

Genre: Horror
Director: Michael Cuesta
Cast: Josh Lucas, Brian Cox, Lena Headey, Beatrice Miller, Jamie Harrold, Michael Kenneth Williams, Pablo Schreiber
RunTime: 1 hr 33 mins
Released By:  Cathay-Keris Films
Rating: TBA
Official Website: -

Opening Day:  28 July 2011

Synopsis: From the producers of HANNIBAL and AMERICAN GANGSTERS, comes an unsettling thriller whose morbid twists and spine chilling drama are certain to get any heart pumping.

Terry is a struggling, single father whose life is finally looking up after becoming the recent recipient of a successful heart transplant. With a new lease on life, Terry begins to find love again in the form of a beautiful English doctor who has been helping to care for his daughter and her rare degenerative disorder. However, after a strange series of events at the local hospital, Terry soon finds his heart beating to a very different drummer. Mysteriously, it begins to slowly take hold of him, eventually leading the young father on a frantic and harrowing search to find the donor's killer before he meets a similar fate..

Movie Review:

The title hails from the short story by Edgar Allan Poe called “The Tell-Tale Heart”, but this thriller is about as far removed from Poe’s story as you can imagine. Rather, this “Tell Tale”  is the of a single father Terry Bernard (Josh Lucas) who starts getting feverish visions of the last moments of his heart’s donor after receiving a transplant. Not only that, Terry also becomes overcome by a compulsive desire to avenge those behind the murder.  

Yes, murder indeed- screenwriter David Callaham (better known for his action movies “The Expendables” and “Doom”) takes Poe’s classic novella and fashions a medical thriller that recalls others like the Hugh Grant film “Extreme Measures” which has at its heart (pardon the pun) ethical dilemmas about organ transplant. These difficult questions become clearer as the identity and role of his donor’s killers come to light, with director Michael Cuesta not afraid to leave some intriguing moral ambiguity for his viewers right at the end.

Thank goodness for that really, for without it, this would largely be a lifeless affair. Told very closely from Terry’s point of view, Cuesta opts for a slow buildup to allow Terry to piece together the pieces of the puzzle. The problem though is how easy they make it seem. Indeed, our pseudo-detective only has to hang out at the local hospital, wait till someone walks past who makes his heart beat faster, and then follow that person to some secluded place to kill him. Apparently, we are supposed to believe that an IT guy- as Terry describes himself in the movie- can transform into a mean killing machine just like that.

Just as clumsy is Terry’s character transformation- with each subsequent murder victim, we are supposed to believe that Terry becomes wracked with guilt for being consumed by his donor’s life, but he apparently has little qualms assuming other traits like drinking and developing a craving for French food. This inconsistency is not helped by a mostly bland performance by Josh Lucas, the actor’s trademark genialness at odds with his character’s inner psychological struggles.

Instead, the saving grace of the film comes from the British actress Lena Headey, best known for playing Sarah Connor on TV’s “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”. Headey plays doctor to Terry’s daughter Angela who is suffering from a rare disease that turns her connecting tissue into bone, and the actress exudes such warmth as Terry’s love interest you can’t help but empathise with her when Terry begins to rebuff her as his alter-ego takes over. 

There’s also veteran actor Brian Cox as the former detective assigned to Terry’s donor’s case, but his supporting role isn’t given much to do in the film. It seems Cox too is aware of this, given the largely disinterested look he gives throughout the film. And indeed, his audience can certainly share his sentiments, for there isn’t much mystery or thrills to be had with this plodding affair. With a distinct lack of ambition, “Tell Tale” is at best a TV-movie to be forgotten as soon as it is over

Movie Rating:

(A mostly lifeless affair that doesn’t offer much by way of mystery or thrills)

Review by Gabriel Chong