The tell-tale heart
int. room [prison cell]
EDGAR sat with his eyes widened and holding onto his knees tightly, one of his hands picks
on the eyelash.
match cut to :
int. old man's house
Edgar, with the same wide-eyed expression, flinches when he hears the sound of a bowl
clinking and looks at the old man. The old man tries to reach out for the cup of water, and
Edgar helps him drink water.
int. old man's house
Edgar does chores, cleanes utensils, puts blankets, dusts around the house, and feeds the
old man. [while he does all this, Edgar makes attempts not to look the old man directly in the
eye]
While he feeds the old man, Edgar looks at the old man's mouth, not his eyes, and tries to
avoid eye contact.
While the old man eats, he spills a little on his mouth, Edgar looks up, mistakenly meets the
old man's eye, Edgar's eyes slightly widen, eyebrows furrow, and he breathes heavily, and
grips the utensil a little tighter.
[edgar’s pov] old man looks at Edgar, Edgar resembles the old man's face with that of a
vulture.
Edgar starts to get visions of a bunch of vultures, but a specific one has the exact same eye
as the old man, it stares at him, flies and catches an animal, and starts to eat it alive. The
animal screeches out in pain. The vulture eats it and stares back at him, its beak covered in
blood. [transition to vulture turns to old man again]
Edgar tries to compose himself, closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath.
(slow zoom) of the old man's face staring at Edgar.
cut to:
BLACK SCREEN
(black screen transitioning into a dark room)
int. of a room
[close-up of lighting the lantern]
TITLE: NIGHT ONE
Edgar walks towards the old man's room, opens the door, flashes the light on the old man's
eye, closes the door, and walks back out of the room.
TITLE: NIGHT TWO
opens the doorknob, and flashes a light in the old man's eye.
TITLE: NIGHT THREE
Edgar walks [closeup], and turns the lantern knob on.
TITLE: NIGHT FOUR
Edgar flashes light on the eye, closing the door.
TITLE: NIGHT FIVE
Edgar flashes a light on the old man's eye [both in one frame].
TITLE: NIGHT SIX
(close-up) Edgar turns on the lantern.
TITLE: NIGHT SEVEN
Edgar flashes light on the old man's eye and closes the door.
TITLE: NIGHT EIGHT
Edgar walks towards the old man's room, opens the door, and flashes the light on the old
man's eye, while he turns the knob, it makes a noise, the old man wakes up, trembles
slightly, and asks, "Who's there?".
Edgar looks at the eye, sweat drips down his face, his eyes widen, grips the lantern, and
breathes heavily.
Edgar quickly walks into the room towards the old man.
Edgar screams, and it echoes through the room. (cut to black screen)
Ext. of old man's house [mid shot of old man’s rooms window][neighbour’s pov]
Edgar holds onto his head, paces around the room, he has the knife in his hand, he puts the
body of the old man in the floorboards, there are bags besides him
[this isn’t revealed to the audience]
ext. of old man's house
(closeup) someone rings the doorbell, and Edgar opens the door, three policemen stand
there with serious and nonchalant expressions.
[over the shoulder shot] Policemen say, "The neighbours reported a scream". Edgar's
eyebrows furrowed, and a little sweat dripped down his face.
He welcomes the policemen in. They check around the house, they look out for any
suspicious activity, they keep a look out for edgars behaviour too.
int. of old man's room
After looking for a while, the policemen’s demeanours has eased up. They head to old man's
room, and Edgar offers them alcohol, which they gladly accept.
cut to:
ext. night sky
Policemen laughing in the background.
ext. old man's room [door closeup]
Muffled laughs from the Policemen and Edgar comes from the room.
int. old man's room
[over-the-shoulder shot of policemen] Edgar smiles, alcohol bottle in his hand
(fade out of policemen laughter but not disappearing completely and fade in of heartbeat
noise simultaneously)
Policemen laughing closeup, closeup of alcohol, sweat drips down Edgar's face, his eyes
fidget, lantern close up, Edgar gulps, Edgar's eyes wide.
Edgar falls to his knees, holds his head, and confesses that he killed the old man.
Edgar screams “Villains! Dissemble no more! I admit the deed!—tear up the planks! Here,
here!—It is the beating of his hideous heart!”.
The policemen get shocked at edgars sudden confession, they slowly walk towards the
floorboards, they remove the floorboards, and get disgusted by the view in front of them.
It's the body of the old man, in pieces, his body torn up, his arms and feet pop out of the
bags. His head peeks out of one of the bags. His eye lies besides his head.
Edgar looks up
Match cut to:
int. prison cell
Edgar looks up, him sitting behind bars, he sighs
Edgar looks back, and he sees the old man's silhouette staring right at him, his eye wide and
scary [in his head], only the eye visible to Edgar.
CUT TO:
TITLE: THE TELL-TALE HEART.
THE END