The Tell Tale heart script

Characters: TOM - 22-25 years of age, thin almost to the point of gauntness. Taller than most people but not excessively so, around 6’2". Easily excitable. Wears the same loose blue shirt and sweatpants, but the outfit grows to read more as disheveled than comfortable.

AMOS - Early to mid-80s, wrinkled nearly to the point of excess. A kindly, unassuming nature. Can always be found in a time-worn, dull green nightgown.

The screen is black. TOM, in voice-over, begins speaking to an unknown listener.

TOM (v.o.)

The old man was soon to die anyway, if not by mine than at least by some other’s hand.

1

INT. TOM’S LIVING ROOM, NIGHT

1

We open on a shot of TOM, filling the frame. He is sitting in an old wooden chair. He addresses the camera directly.

TOM (cont.)

Not to say that he was a mean old man, or that he had it coming.

Though he was quite old, so death was coming his way whether or not I meant him ill will. Which I didn’t. But I’m not crazy. Crazy, you say? Not I, no sirree, sharp as a tack, maybe sharper. No, yes, much sharper, sharp as a diamond.

Pretty as one too.

He laughs too loudly at his own joke. He is infatuated with his own charm.

TOM (cont.) (deadly serious) Now, while I cannot remember when the idea to dispose of the old man began, I do remember why I did it.

Now, you’ll really see my side of the story here, really get to understand why my doing this was so necessary, so utmost in importance.

AMOS’ milky yellow eye fills the frame. It is his left eye.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

2.

TOM (cont.) (v.o.)

It was that damned eye.

2

INT. AMOS’ BEDROOM, DAY

2

AMOS is across the room from TOM, who is holding a bowl of soup for him. AMOS’ face is turned so that only his kindly good eye is visible. AMOS smiles, prompting a grin from TOM, who crosses to give AMOS the soup.

TOM (v.o.) (cont.)

I loved Amos, he was a hell of a guy, the definition of kindly.

Though bed-ridden, he consistently gave me what kindnesses he could daily. But that eye...

As TOM reaches AMOS with the soup, AMOS turns his head fully, the eye revealed. TOM slightly recoils, flinching, and spills a bit of soup on the floor. The camera slowly tracks in on AMOS’ eye.

TOM (v.o.) (cont.)

Its sightless gaze was wholly malevolent, wholly intolerable, reeking of an intolerable malevolence. I felt hunted, I felt menaced, I felt just by falling within its empty sight I would be undone.

The camera continues zooming into the eye, falling into it; the screen is consumed by yellow.

3

INT. TOM’S LIVING ROOM, NIGHT

3

The screen is engulfed by yellow.

TOM (cont.) (paranoid) You gotta understand, The yellow is abruptly cut away, revealing TOM in his living room.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

3.

TOM (cont.) it was evil, the eye was a force of pure evil, and it didn’t matter how nice ol’ Amos was, with that eye, he was the evilest thing I’d ever seen.

A rat scurries behind TOM. (clears throat) 4

INT. AMOS’ BEDROOM, NIGHT

4

TOM is hovering over AMOS’ sleeping form, watching predatorily. He is toying with the knife in his hands. He is tense, and breathing heavily. AMOS is turned so the eye is visible, perpetually open.

TOM (v.o.) (cont.)

So you see he had to die, I mean with so much evil right there in my face I’d certainly want someone to put me out of my misery. But I couldn’t very well destroy the eye without killing Amos along with it.

His generosity to me couldn’t go unconsidered. I resolved to hold off until the eye inevitably attacked, or otherwise provoked me.

AMOS turns so the eye is no longer visible. TOM wavers, then turns and leaves the room as quietly as possible.

5

INT. TOM’S KITCHEN, NIGHT TOM is chopping vegetables next to a bubbling pot, presumably making a stew. The knife is almost comically large.

TOM (v.o.) (cont.)

I’ll tell you now, I meant to stick to my resolution, but something else cropped up. Something unforeseen.

5

4.

6

INT. TOM’S LIVING ROOM, NIGHT

6

Two rats scurry on the floor around him.

TOM (cont.)

His heart begged me for slumber.

7

INT. TOM’S KITCHEN, NIGHT TOM continues cutting. Suddenly, a faint beating is heard.

TOM doesn’t notice it, as the beats occur at just the moments he is cutting and are obscured.

The sound gets a bit louder, then louder still, until it supercedes even TOM’s cutting. He finally stops, and looks up at the ceiling, towards the source of the distraction.

For the duration of this sequence, unless otherwise specified, the heart’s beating is ever-present.

TOM (v.o.) (cont.)

Initially, I didn’t notice it. But its cries were just too loud. Every night, I tell you, every night after my decision to not murder Amos, the heart wailed for me to do the opposite. It kept me from my sleep, which was already in shambles. I suppose I must have been keeping the heart and eye from their sleep. (lost in a revery) I suppose.

TOM considers the knife in his hand.

TOM (v.o) (cont.)

It was suddenly time, the wails were clarified, Amos’ heart was begging me for sleep, for a rest from the evil eye just inches above it. It was my duty, to Amos, and to myself, and to the world, to rid the universe of this unsanctimonious presence.

TOM rushes off the right side of the frame.

7

5.

8

TOM’S STAIRWELL, NIGHT

8

TOM, with knife and flashlight in hand, skulks into the stairwell and up the stairs. He takes them slowly, each step a conscious decision. He is on a mission.

TOM (v.o.) (cont.)

I knew immediately what was to be done. I already had a knife in my hand, all I needed was light, to clarify my blows, to see my justice done. I would vanquish my unholy foe, would destroy its vessel, would destroy Amos and the now obvious malevolence in his being.

TOM reaches the top of the stairwell, and takes a right down the hall.

9

INT. HALLWAY, NIGHT

9

Shadows fall irregularly along the length of the hallway, covering the passing TOM in shattered light. He purposefully strides towards his destiny.

TOM (v.o.) (cont.)

I had to do it, it was my mission, my task, it was only I who could do it as it was my destiny to do so. I would not go unfulfilled, the heart’s cries would not go unanswered, the eye’s promised atrocities would not go unpunished.

TOM reaches AMOS’ slightly ajar door and brushes into the room.

10

INT. TOM’S LIVING ROOM, NIGHT TOM (cont.)

I was going to kill him.

10

6.

11

INT. AMOS’ BEDROOM, NIGHT

11

TOM strides ever more purposefully into the room, a man possessed. He reaches the bed, stops, and stares. He raises the knife, a crazed grin spreading over his face.

TOM (screaming) DIE! TOM continues repeating DIE, DIE, DIE while plunging the knife into the writhing form of AMOS. AMOS turns, his eye becoming visible to TOM, who is thrown even further into madness. He plunges the knife into the eye with a gristly squish. TOM is now beyond words, he is simply screaming and stabbing. He raises the knife one more time, before sticking it with finality into AMOS’ heart. The heart’s beating finally ceases. He falls upon AMOS’ bloodied, beaten corpse and breathes heavily. After a brief, cherished moment of silence, the beating starts again.

TOM (v.o) It still called to me. I had done poorly, slipped up somewhere. The heart would not stop. I had to cut up the body, sever its ties from itself.

TOM goes about cutting up the body, not worrying about the blood getting everywhere. The heart finally stops beating.

12

INT. TOM’S LIVING ROOM, NIGHT TOM (cont.)

Immediately I knew how I was to hide my work. I went up in the chimney, which so happened to be in my room, and hammered a hole into the wall adjacent. I had discovered weeks before that the walls were hollow, and so utilized this knowledge by shoving the pieces through the opening, and sealing it back up with tape. This would normally be conspicuous (after all, who tapes up their walls?), but since it was obscured by being inside a chimney it became a highly worthy solution to my problem.

12

7.

13

INT. TOM’S BEDROOM, NIGHT

13

TOM jumps into bed, full of excitement.

TOM (v.o.) (cont.)

Not only had I flawlessly completed my task, but I had also finally rid myself of the hindrance to my sleep. My restlessness would finally cease. The night following Amos’ demise was full of promise.

TOM is asleep on his side, a slight grin on his face, his head empty at last. A single, house-shaking beat of the heart occurs, rudely stirring TOM. He sits up, and hangs his legs over the side of the bed. The heartbeat continues, faintly. A sound like a marble rolling is heard, and grows steadily louder. TOM looks over the ground, but can’t see anything in the darkness. He goes to turn on a light, but before he does the issuer of the sound rolls into the moonlight casting through the window.

TOM sees AMOS’ milky yellow eye rolling slowly from the direction of the chimney. It suddenly stops. He approaches it tentatively, and leans down to make sure it is what he thinks it is. It has left a trail of blood on the floor, and has a small puddle of it slowly pooling around it. He leans in closer. The eye blinks at him.

TOM shoots up in bed, screaming with no sound as music begins building underneath.

TOM runs to the light, turns it on, then begins obsessively combing the floor for the eye. His breath and demeanor are frantic.

14

INT. TOM’S BEDROOM, DAY

14

TOM wakes up, the restlessness clear in his face.

TOM (v.o.)

My work wasn’t done. I reopened the hole, wider this time for the retrieval of the pieces, and cut Amos into quarters of what he had been. No more blood was circulating, the second cutting was far less messy.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

8.

TOM goes about cutting up AMOS’ pieces. He nicks his hands as we go. The heartbeat stops again. TOM breathes a sigh of relief, gathers the flesh into a pile, which he places in a large trash bag. He walks offscreen to throw the pieces back in the wall. We hear the pieces dully thumping to the ground.

15

INT. TOM’S BEDROOM, NIGHT

15

TOM settles into bed, once again completely assured of his own success.

The heartbeat starts up again, but sounds as though it is beating against the wall, attempting to escape.

TOM wakes up. He gets out of bed, and crosses to the wall, pressing his ear against it.

TOM (v.o.)

I thought it might have been rats, I’m not insane, a heart has to stop beating at some point so rats must have come and started eating away at my work. I heard a conflict in the walls, a bludgeoning, a burgeoning attempt to escape.

TOM hits the wall, attempting to scare off whatever invasive presence had found its way into the wall. A look of realization crosses his face.

TOM (v.o.)

There were no rats, at least not yet. I was proven to not be crazy, because didn’t I tell you about the evil? It was evil to a new extent, an extent beyond death. I had to kill him deader than dead if I was ever to rid myself of him.

TOM enters the chimney. We can only see him from the knees down. We hear him hammering into the wall, and see rubble fall at his feet. He hammers and hammers, bigger pieces falling to the ground.

9.

16

INT. TOM’S KITCHEN, NIGHT

16

TOM is standing in front of his cutting board, the pieces of flesh before him. Much of it has started to decay. A pan sizzles next to him. He begins cutting it even finer. As he cuts, he nicks himself more and more, bleeding onto the wreckage before him. He dumps the pieces onto the pan. The beating starts to grow quieter. TOM breathes a sigh of relief, before noticing that the beating hasn’t disappeared.

He slams a fist on the counter, then turns the heat on the pan way up, unceremoniously scorching the remains of AMOS. CUT TO TOM is sitting at the dinner table, a plate of AMOS before him. He desperately shovels handful after handful of flesh into his mouth, barely recognizing that anything is entering his mouth.

CUT TO TOM is panting in front of his now empty plate. The blood from his cuts is all over the kitchen, the table, his face.

The beating seems to have stopped. TOM is freed of his burden. He picks up the plate and tosses it offscreen, the sound of shattering following. He hears what is genuinely rats scratching and biting against the walls. A rat runs in front of him. The beating slowly starts up again. TOM breathes a sigh of resignation.

CUT TO TOM has regained his composure.

CUT TO 17

INT. TOM’S ROOM, NIGHT

17

TOM is cleaned, and putting on the outfit we’ve seen him in in the cutaways where he addresses the camera directly.

CUT TO 18

INT. TOM’S LIVING ROOM, NIGHT TOM answers the door, and lets in an exterminator.

BLACKOUT.

18