Don’s World of Horror and Exploitation Review

By Don Anelli

April 25, 2020

Forced to retell a horrific crime, a man accused of murder tells how he grew so frustrated with his boss he murdered him and tried to hide the crime before his conscious gave him away.

Overall, there was so much to like about this one. The main setup here is still quite enjoyable despite being so overly familiar which keeps the more familiar horror setups quite thrilling when they appear. The general idea here comes off nicely with the idea of how the idea grew into him actually doing the act and trying to get away with it, especially as their line of questioning grows more intensive and focused in tripping him up. The flash-cuts to the old man threatening to trip him up as the story gets harder and harder to believe is handled rather well with the expected freak-out providing this with a fantastic payoff which gives this a lot to like.

There’s also the high-quality work elsewhere on display. The house is a perfect sprawling Victorian Gothic manor, feeling quite spacious and yet still like a livable location where it soon starts to turn on him as the questions intensify. Many of the overall shots showing the outcome of the act and how he’s succumbing to the pressure are far more visually dynamic and interesting than expected which adds to the psychosis while also looking quite impressive. About the only issue here is the somewhat bizarre old-school speaking style mixing with modern-day settings, as if they forced the story without transplanting the original words at all but this grows into a nice charm throughout here.

Review can be found at: https://donshorrorworld.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-tell-tale-heart-2020-by-mcclain.html