The EDGAR ALLAN POE Experience - THE TELL-TALE HEART 2

The TELL-TALE HEART was shot on Kodak ASA 400 Film. This Super 8 mm stock was very light sensitive and allowed us to film in low light ( some shots are even lit  ONLY  by candlight ). We had previously been bound to daylight photography or the dreaded bank of Floodlights! Not condusive to an atmospheric horror film at all.

We actually found  Black & White filmstock and shot the entire film this way to emulate the old silents and Universal Horror Films.

The one exception to this was our shock "Color Sequence" at the mid-point when the OLD MAN's body is dismembered and secreted under the floor boards of the house.

 As the knife descends and the blood drips into the "tub which caught all!" the film suddenly and un-nervingly switched to full color for 2 minutes, ending on the reflection of the LUNATIC in the tub of blood before wiping back to B & W for the finale.

There have been countless versions of this story filmed, but to date no other has used this simple device to draw the audience inside the mind of the character so horrifically. I also should mention our use of a multi-faceted glass paperweight, held against the camera lens and rotated by hand, to create the swirling "Eyes" during the madness sequences. I'm not sure if I have ever seen anything so chilling, even in the German Expressionist Cinema we were trying to emulate.

MARK EVAN WALKER, then all of 16 years old, directed & edited this little film with the skill and nuance of the Masters. His "Eye" was and still is...unequaled.....