What’s it about?
Tell Tale Heart is Steven Berkoff and Stephen Cookson’s collaborative screen adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s 1843 short story. It tells the spine-chilling tale of a live-in servant, who attempts to convince the audience of his sanity, all the while describing to them the circumstances, execution and subsequent cover up of his murder of the man he is employed to care for. He cites his sharp senses, which alert him to things oblivious to the regular man, and the manipulating “vulture eye” of his victim as justification for the murder.
What makes it good?
Acclaimed theatre practitioner Steven Berkoff wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s chiller and also takes the leading role.
Berkoff holds historically influential status for his development of a particular style of theatre that relies on stylised, extensive use of movement and extremes of speech. His work is so pivotal in fact that students like myself spend invaluable time studying his methods and preparing monologues in his widely recognised style.
Elements of this are obviously evident in Berkoff’s acting here, and it fits the style of the film well. Tell Tale Heart uses a drab and dreary set, with very little colour, often showing shots of large rooms with very little furnishing. A good portion of the servant’s narration is performed to the camera from an unnerving but effectively close angle, the edges of his face spilling over the top and bottom of the screen. In many parts of this dialogue Berkoff reaches for the limits of what one can express without leaving their chair. He uses grotesque expressions and vocal tones that strongly engage the viewer, conveying the story and emotions of the man where the drab set and scarce exposition cannot do so. The script at some points seems secondary, as more of a device to tie the plot together rather than a primary vehicle to convey the emotion of a character.
The best bits
The absolute summit of Berkoff’s outlandish expression appears in the moment where he describes the actual intricacies of the murder. As a viewer I almost feel as if I should leave the room and come back at a better time, so unsettling is the insight into the head of a clearly unhinged man, it almost feels intrusive. Another testament to the effectiveness of Berkoff’s style and his acting prowess.
The closing scene of the film features what the man interprets to be an interrogation of him by three police officers, who have in fact only visited the house to investigate a noise complaint made by a neighbour. They have no inclination to suspect murder until the servant breaks down in front of them, succumbing to the torturous sounds of the victim’s beating “Tell Tale Heart” that haunts him from beneath the floorboards; in his mind an unfortunate benefit of his enhanced senses. In this moment the camera switches between the police sitting in a line of three and the narrator sat opposite as he has some form of nervous breakdown in front of the police officers, giving a commentary which only we, the viewer can hear. Perhaps this intends to draw empathy by inviting us into the murderer’s world to witness and hear something only he and the audience can sense.
Tell Tale Heart, starring Steven Berkoff, Henry Goodman, Hugh Skinner and Dudley Sutton, is directed by Stephen Cookson and adapted by Berkoff and Cookson from the short story by Edgar Allan Poe
The film has won multiple awards in film festivals across the world, including Best Feature Film in the Videoscream Film Festival, Best In Show – IndieFest Film Awards, Best Feature – Independent Horror Awards, and Best Actor (Steven Berkoff) – Independent Horror Awards.
Available on DVD from 11th June 2020 and on various digital platforms including Amazon, Apple TV and Google Play in the subsequent weeks.
Watch the trailer
Read An Interview with Steven Berkoff here.
