HER HEART STILL BEATS Short Film (2011)

Directed by Christopher Di Nunzio
Written by Christopher Di Nunzio
Starring Fiore Leo, Leighsa Burgin, William Bloomfield, John Martellucci, Michael Capozzi
Find out more about this film here!

Edgar Allan Poe’s THE TELL TALE HEART has always been one of my favorite Poe tales, but given the structure of the story, it probably is one of the hardest of his tales to bring to life on film. Since most of the tale is told through the eyes of a madman, it’s hard to hinge a full-length film on it. Maybe that’s why HER HEART STILL BEATS is so effective. In a short, half hour span, writer/director Christopher Di Nunzio is able to hit all the right beats in adapting and modernizing Poe’s classic tale.

Fiore Leo stars as Ed, a stressed out man who becomes even more stressed when he notices the eye of his wife Sarah (played by Leighsa Burgin) has become black and filmy. Di Nunzio chooses not to show this ocular metamorphosis, rather focusing on Ed’s psychosis gone into overdrive. Soon Ed is obsessed with his wife’s malady and is driven to madness. Anyone who has read Poe’s story knows where this is going, and Di Nunzio doesn’t deviate from the original story other than changing the owner of the disgusting eye from an old man to the lead character’s wife. A bold decision, but one that makes this story all the more effective.

Though the story makes a giant leap from sane Ed to his obsession with the eye, I have to give that up to the time constraints of this being a short film. I’m sure had this been a full length feature, his descent would have been a little less jarring. As is, this is an eloquently told tale of insanity and guilt. Choosing not to show the eye and leaving it in the mind of the madman was a brave move, but one that pays off. This decision offers little doubt that Ed is a madman, but nevertheless, his madness is convincing. HER HEART STILL BEATS is a short film worth checking out.

Check out the short film here!!