The Tell-Tale Heart

story by Edgar Allan Poe
script by D.W.Strong & D.G.Strong
INT. BLACK - (V.O.)
WOMAN VOICE OVER
TRUE! --very, very nervous --dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily --how calmly I can tell you the whole story.
LONG DISSOLVE TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
From the dark, echoing blackness a pair of hands appear. They rapidly ring around one another in a fidgety ballet. One hand breaks loose to scratch an itch on the forearm then up to the neck. Quick little scratches. A pale-skinned woman with long string-like hair and wearing a dingy white linen night dress sits in the black nothingness. The only light falls upon her from overhead.
WOMAN (on camera)
It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture – a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees – very gradually – I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever. Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded – with what caution – with what foresight...
LONG DISSOLVE TO:
INT. KITCHEN - DAY {1850}
A man sits at a small table with a lone cup on it. There is the sound of pots clanking on a stove. Coffee is poured into the cup.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
–with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.
CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY - CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
A dull glow illuminates a closed chamber door. The latch is a tarnished brass. A hand slowly reaches out and grasps the latch and turns it. The door begins to open.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it...

The door continues to open. The silhouette of a lantern lifts up and into the opening. The shape of a face moves into where the lantern had been placed.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
–oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head.
CUT TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
The woman stands and begins to walk around.
WOMAN (on camera)
Oh, you would have laughed to see how [to camera] cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly
–very, very slowly, so that I might not...
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
Slowly, the silhouette of the woman's head fills the gap of the open door. She holds the lantern steady.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far...
The room is dark and gloomy. The only light that let in was from the small cracks of moonlight in the shutters. Someone in a bed can be faintly seen.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this,...
The woman in the doorway lifts the lantern and grasps the small door which conceals the light inside.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously – cautiously...
CUT TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
The woman is holding up in one hand an imaginary lantern. With the other finger and thumb, she grasps where the small lantern door would be.

WOMAN (on camera/to camera)
...(for the hinges creaked)...
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
The door of the lantern slowly opens. A small piece of light shimmers off the metal lantern and slightly illuminates the woman's face.
WOMAN VOICE OVER)
--I undid it just so much that a
single thin ray...
The light streaks upon the old man's closed eye.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...fell upon the vulture eye.
CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT
The woman's dark figure walks by the tall clock in the hallway.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
And this I did for seven long nights --every night just at midnight...
The clock strikes the midnight bell.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
The old man's eye.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
–but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work;...
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
She stands still in the doorway.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye.

CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY - CHAMBER DOOR - DAY
The morning sun glows into the hallway. She walks up to the old man's door, opens it and walks in, leaving the door ajar. Inside, indistinct cordials are exchanged.
WOMAN VOICE OVER)
And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night.

CUT TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
The woman is sitting again. She continues to work her hands.
WOMAN (on camera)
So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept. Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers – of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me;...
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
The bed rustles as the old man stirs.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled.
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
Her silhouetted figure peers through the small gap in the door. The gap continues to widen.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
Now you may think that I drew
back – but no.
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
The room is dark except for the bits of moonlight that sneak in.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness, (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers,) and so I knew...
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
The door continues to open. She grows larger, lifting the lantern as she moves in.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily. I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening,...
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
The old man quickly sits up in the darkness.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out –
OLD MAN VOICE OVER
Who's there?
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
She stands motionless in the opening.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
There is no movement in the room.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
He was still sitting up in the bed listening;...

DISSOLVE TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
The woman continues to explain.
WOMAN (on camera)
–just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
She still stands in the doorway, holding the lantern. The room is still. A low groaning sound begins.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief – oh, no! – it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
The low groan continues. She pauses her movements, then continues to gesture.
WOMAN (on camera)
I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt,...
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
She stands waiting.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he had turned in the bed.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
The room remains still and quiet.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not.
CUT TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
She motions towards an imaginary chimney.
WOMAN (on camera)
He had been saying to himself –"It is nothing but the wind in the chimney...
CUT TO:
She is down with her face to the floor. She watches an imaginary mouse run buy.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
--it is only a mouse crossing the floor,"...
CUT TO:
She has her hand out, as if she were holding something tiny in her palm.
WOMAN VOICE OVER)
...or "It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp."
She sees it jump off.
CUT TO:
She spins.
WOMAN (on camera)
Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel – although he neither saw nor heard – to feel the presence of my head within the room.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
Once again she attempts to open the lantern.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little – a very, very little crevice in the lantern.
She pulls the tin fastener.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
So I opened it –you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily –until, at length a simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider,...
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
A tiny shaft of light reaches across the room and up on to the bed.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...shot from out the crevice and fell full...
The light reaches the eye. It is open.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...upon the vulture eye. It was open –wide, wide open –and I grew furious as I gazed upon it.
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
She stands frozen behind the lantern. She glares in at him.
WOMAN VOICE OVER)
I saw it with perfect distinctness...

CUT TO:
NT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
The eye.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
--all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones;...
The room is still motionless.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...but I could see nothing else of the old man's face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot.
CUT TO:
NT. LIMBO SET
The woman points to her ears. She holds her hands over them.
WOMAN (on camera)
And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the sense? –now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.
A faint tapping sound begins to echo.
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
The sound becomes more distinct, more rhythmic.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart.
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
And still she waits in the doorway.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage. But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless.

CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
The old man is frozen with terror. His eye paralyzed with fear.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eye. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker,...
His eye. The beating.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! –
CUT TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
She is in a frenzy and the echoing grows.
WOMAN (on camera)
...do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at thedead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to un- controllable terror.
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
She remains motionless. The beating gets louder.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst.
Her head finally moves ever so slightly.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
And now a new anxiety seized me –the sound would be heard by a neighbor!
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
The thin ray of light still fell upon the old man.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
The old man's hour had come!
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
Suddenly, she opens the lantern and launches into the room.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room.
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
She rushes towards the bed and in one fluid motion, pushes him off to the floor.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
He shrieked once --once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor,...
She lifts the heavy mattress and lands on the floor on top of him.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...and pulled the heavy bed over him.
CUT TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
She is lying on the floor with a wicked smirk.
WOMAN (to camera)
(pause) I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done.
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
She lies directly on top of the mattress as the old man squirms beneath.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead.
The beating stops. She lifts herself off of the bed and pulls it aside.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
I removed the bed and examined the corpse.
The old man's limp hand falls upon the rug.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand...
She lays her hand on his chest.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead.
She gently wipes her hand down over his eyes, closing his lids.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
His eye would trouble me no more.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
She focuses on her words.
WOMAN (on camera)
If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence.
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
A large clever raises up, then thrusts down.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
First of all I dismembered the corpse.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
Not outwardly bothered by this.
WOMAN (on camera)
I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CHAMBER - BENEATH THE FLOOR - NIGHT
The darkness is broken when a piece of flooring is pulled from above. She pulls another, then begins depositing the wrapped objects.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
She places the boards back in position, pulls the small rug and steps back to examine the room.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye --not even his --could have detected any thing wrong.
CUT TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
She turns, pointing at the floor.
WOMAN (on camera)
There was nothing to wash out --no stain of any kind --no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all --ha! ha
CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY - CHAMBER DOOR - NIGHT
She is just pulling closed his door when the clock strikes the hour. She turns for just a moment to glance at the time when there is a knock on the front door of the residence.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o'clock --still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door.
CUT TO:
INT. FRONT DOOR - NIGHT
There are shadows in the frosted glass of the door. Men are moving about just outside. She walks up and opens it. It's the police.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
I went down to open it with a light heart, --for what had I now to fear? There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of the police. A shriek had been heard by a neighbor during the night;...
CUT TO:
INT. FOYER - NIGHT
Two of the policemen mill about while the other explains.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office, and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the premises.
CUT TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
The woman is confident.
WOMAN (on camera)
I smiled, --for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search –search well. I led them, at length,...
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CHAMBER - NIGHT
She brings the officers into the old man's chamber. She points here and there and invites them to sit.

WOMAN VOICE OVER
...to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues,...
She brings one more chair and places it directly over the small rug. She sits.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.
The darkness outside is giving way to a morning glow. The four sit relaxed.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things.
Her face begins to slide a bit. Her glee slowly turns to worry. A slight ringing sound builds.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears:...
The three men seem to be moving differently now. Long eerie gestures. The ringing gets LOUDER and wavers in and out.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct: –It continued and became more distinct:...
Beads of sweat build across her brow. The ringing has become more rhythmic and still louder. She interjects a comment. This does not comfort her. She scratches at her skin. Quick little scratches.

WOMAN VOICE OVER
I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definiteness –until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears.
CUT TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
Her energy builds.
WOMAN (on camera)
No doubt I now grew very pale; --but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased –and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound –much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath...
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER - DAWN
Light begins to rise in the room. The officers continue there comments. She fidgets in her chair. She interjects again, but it as if they don't hear her. The ringing is now thumping and getting louder yet.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
--and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly --more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased.
She begins to rise from her chair.
CUT TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
She rises up. The thumping is louder and echoes.
WOMAN (on camera)
I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men –but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do?
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER - DAWN
She paces, flailing her arms about. The three men pay little attention.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
I foamed –I raved –I swore! I swung the chair...
She pulls the chair and drags it along the floor. The thumping has now become pounding.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
...upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased.
CUT TO:
INT. LIMBO SET
More frantic.
WOMAN
(on camera)
It grew louder –louder –louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! –no, no! They heard! – they suspected! –they knew! –they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision!
CUT TO:
INT. CHAMBER - DAWN
Streaks of light now pierce the room. The pounding sound is nearing a deafening height. She stands before the officers. Her hands are grasping her head. The officers are still talking gayly.

WOMAN VOICE OVER
I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer!
She throws the chair away, reaches down and grabs the small rug and wheedles it aside. The officers jump to their feet in alarm. She falls to her knees.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
I felt that I must scream or die! and now –again! –hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!
She is on her hands and knees scratching at the floor boards.
WOMAN
"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! –tear up the planks!
She pulls a board free and holds it up.
WOMAN
...here, here!
CUT TO:
INT. ASYLUM CELL - DAY
The woman is jacketed, gaged, and chained in the far corner of a damp, cold cell. She twists a little in her binding. Her eyes are crazed and dull blue, with a hideous veil over them. Eyes of a vulture.
The heart beat crescendos.
WOMAN VOICE OVER
--It is the beating of his hideous heart.
FADE TO BLACK:
THE END
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