Starring Laurence Payne, Adrienne Corri, Dermot Walsh, Selma Vaz Dias, John Scott
Directed by Ernest Morris
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A killer is tormented by his imagined beating of the heart of his victim's body, and recalls the love affair that drove him to commit murder.
Edgar Allan Poe's famous short story is winningly adapted by writers Brian Clemens and Eldon Howard in a well-acted and directed thriller. To expand the story to future length, they divert from the original victim as Poe described him, and make the murder a crime of passion with Corri's character at the heart of the conflict between two men. She is excellent in the film, giving one of the best performances I've seen from her, and is mesmerizing in a sequence where she dances with Payne, but her eyes never leave Walsh. Payne is introduced to us as playing Edgar Allan Poe himself, before this changes somewhat, one of the many elements in the film that kept me guessing. He gives a fine performance as well, and the way the screenplay builds his madness gradually is expertly done. There's very good camerawork by James Wilson also on display, showing Payne and Corri's different reactions to their relationship through closeups and memorable framing. It's not a perfect film, but Morris has assembled a piece of work that certainly is worthy of admiration and respect.
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