The Tell-Tale Heart

A madman harbours murderous thoughts about an old relative with an evil eye in this chilling Edgar Allan Poe adaptation

Inspired, nightmarish adaptation of the famous Edgar Allan Poe short story about a madman recounting how and why he murdered an elderly relative - it was all the fault of the latter's diseased eye. The acting may be as wooden as the settings, and some love interest is unnecessary, but the atmosphere is kept suitably lurid, and the taut, imaginative direction of Brian Desmond Hurst keeps the film as sharp as the killer's knife.

Although the precise relationship between the two characters is never specified in the Poe story, in this version they are described as being relatives.