Cannes Market Dailies

In association with Red Rock Entertainment Present

STEVEN BERKOFF’S

TELL TALE HEART

Directed by Stephen Cookson
Adapted by Steven Berkoff and Stephen Cookson from a short story by Edgar Allan Poe
Starring Steven Berkoff, Henry Goodman, Dudley Sutton

Digital Release June 11 2020

for immediate release
“I became insane with long periods of horrible sanity”

CK Films in association with Red Rock Entertainment announces today the digital release of its award-winning feature, Steven Berkoff’s Tell Tale Heart starring Steven Berkoff, Henry Goodman, Hugh Skinner and Dudley Sutton, directed by Stephen Cookson and adapted by Berkoff and Cookson from the short story by Edgar Allan Poe.  The film, which has garnered multiple awards in film festivals across the world, including Best Feature Film in the Videoscream Film Festival, Best In Show - IndieFest Film Awards, Best Feature - Independent Horror Awards, and Best Actor (Steven Berkoff) - Independent Horror Awards, will be available on DVD from June 11 2020 and on various digital platforms including Amazon, Apple TV and Google Play in the subsequent weeks.

Staying faithful to Poe’s original short story of 1843, the film is a spine-chilling retelling of the dizzying tale of Edmund (Berkoff), a solitary figure who endeavours to convince the viewer of his sanity, whilst describing a murder he has committed.  Haunted by the still beating heart of the dismembered body of his victim which he has hidden under the floorboards and under investigation by the police, the unhinged killer finally gives himself away driven mad by the sounds inside his head.

Steven Berkoff has been an undisputed theatrical legend since the 1970s. Throughout his extraordinary career as a theatrical firebrand, performer, writer and director he has railed against safe, mediocre and superficial theatre. His theatrical craftsmanship, his physicality and tremendous voice work has been honed to razor sharpness over a career spanning five decades.  Steven's plays and adaptations have been performed in many countries and in many languages. Amongst the many adaptations Berkoff has created for the stage, directed and toured, are Kafka's Metamorphosis, The Trial, Agamemnon after Aeschylus, and Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher.  Steven has directed and toured productions of Shakespeare's Coriolanus also playing the title role, Richard II, Hamlet and Macbeth, as well as Oscar Wilde's Salome. 

Berkoff’s film work includes roles in A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, Octopussy, Beverly Hills Cop, Rambo, Under the Cherry Moon, Absolute Beginners and The Krays.  Steven also directed and co-starred with Joan Collins in the film version of his play Decadence.  His stage play Shakespeare’s Heroes and Villains was also adapted for film directed by Stephen Cookson.

Stephen Cookson is an English film director and occasional producer and writer based in London. Some of his most notable feature films have been Brighton (adapted from Steven Berkoff’s Brighton Beach Scumbags) starring Phil Davis, Larry Lamb, Marion Bailey and Lesley Sharp, My Angel starring Brenda Blethyn, Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie and Mel Smith which won Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Director at the Monaco International Film Festival. Stephen also directed Mumbo Jumbo which starred Joss Ackland, Brian Blessed and Richard O'Brien. He directed Journey To The Moon the first movie musical since Alan Parker's classic Bugsy Mallone to feature an entire cast of children playing adults. He co-wrote and directed Stanley, A Man of Variety starring Timothy Spall which won 20 international awards including Best Director and Best Actor. He also directed Shakespeare’s Heroes and Villians starring Steven Berkoff and Tell Tale Heart adapted from the Edgar Allan Poe short story which also starred Steven Berkoff, Henry Goodman and Hugh Skinner. This film  won 18 international awards including Best Actor and Best Horror Film.

TELL TALE HEART

Starring:

Steven Berkoff,

Henry Goodman,

Hugh Skinner,

Dudley Sutton

Director:

Stephen Cookson

Writer:

Steven Berkoff

From a short story by Edgar Allan Poe

Adaptation:

Stephen Cookson

Co-Producer:

Peter Keegan

Log-Line:

A live-in caretaker becomes obsessed with getting rid of the Old Man he cares for because of his "evil eye."

Running Time

80mins

Genre:

Gothic Thriller

Certificate:

15