An intimate family drama masquerading as a classic creature feature, Jonathan Cuartas’s 2020 My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It Tois a refreshing twist on the vampire genre. The film follows three siblings struggling to maintain a semblance of normality while the youngest brother, Thomas (Owen Campbell), lives as a vampire. Jessie (Ingrid Sophie Schram) sends out Dwight (Patrick Fugit) to kidnap and kill homeless people to feed Thomas. As the routine begins to strain the family, the human siblings prove more frightening than their vampire brother.
My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To has no shortage of blood or gore, yet the horror is primarily derived from the warped family dynamic that has emerged in response to Thomas’ vampirism. In making the heart of the film about addiction and abuse, and how these factors distort families, My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To does not bother with the glossy fodder associated with vampires. The movie is an exercise in realism, utilizing its supernatural elements as support beams for its central metaphor. My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To stands apart from the average vampire flick by keeping the horror grounded and going for the emotional jugular, rather than aiming to dazzle.
There is a long history of using vampirism as a shorthand for addiction or alcoholism in fiction. Dracula, Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Riley Flynn of Midnight Mass are all vampires struggling with blood-drinking in a way that directly parallels alcoholism. Edward of Twilight and Kathleen of The Addiction are both in dialogue with addiction. In My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To, Thomas’s vampirism is sub-textually treated as an addiction. Thomas is thin and pale, often hidden under thick blankets and asleep. His appearance evokes the heroin-chic look fashion magazines and media rely on to nonverbally convey addiction.
My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To builds on this age-old metaphor by portraying Thomas’ vampirism as gritty, contrary to the glitter and glamour native to vampire films. Thomas wears sweatpants instead of designer clothing. There are a few scenes where Dwight buys items for Thomas in a charity shop. There is nothing illustrious about Thomas’ design. The aforementioned films feature the vampires in elegant attire and participating in highbrow activities, inviting the audience to envy the vampire; Thomas’ vampirism, on the other hand, is seen as a source of suffering.
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My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To does not just stop with Thomas’ characterization, but the aesthetic of the entire film. The house is worn and small, rather than a massive castle or penthouse apartment. The color scheme inside the home is brown and yellow, while the outside world is gray. The siblings are poor, a far cry from the luxurious financial situation of vampires like Dracula or Lestat de Lioncourt. They buy gifts for Christmas that don’t fit or work, and they have to sell the personal items of their victims to make money. My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To frames vampirism as anything but aspirational. In doing so, the tragedy of addiction, for both the user and the family, stays center stage. By stripping away any flashy distractions, the viewer can focus their full attention on how destructive vampirism is on Thomas and his siblings.
Owen Campbell’s Thomas Is a Unique Vampire
Image Via Dark Sky Films
Alongside My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To’s grim portrayal of vampirism, Thomas himself is unlike most other vampires in fiction.Melancholic vampires are miserable because of guilt over harming people or disgust at their loss of humanity. While Thomas is depicted as obviously unhappy with his circumstances, his ennui is rooted in Jessie’s restrictions, not from any hand-wringing over his mortal soul.Thomas is at the mercy of Jessie, who keeps a tight leash on her youngest brother. He is burned by sunlight, but desperate for friendship, a longing exacerbated by Jessie’s firm refusal to even allow him to go outside. Thomas has to beg Dwight to sneak him onto the front lawn just to breathe some fresh air. He folds a paper airplane with a plaintive “help me” written on it. Thomas is not the apex predator of his household, despite being the sole vampire.
The expected power dynamic between the vampire aggressor and the human victim is inverted. Thomas defers to Jessie, who makes every decision for him, and Dwight. Owen Campbell plays Thomas with a desperate kind of helplessness. He keeps his eyes lowered in submission when speaking, often curling his shoulders to appear smaller. Campbell keeps Thomas as non-threatening as possible. The film further bolsters this image. For the majority of My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To, Thomas drinks blood from crockery. Jessie and Dwight store the blood of their victims in a large sweet tea dispenser, and Thomas drinks from soup bowls and cups. In hiding this gruesome reality from the audience, it is easy to garner sympathy for Thomas.
Family Is Scarier Than Vampires in ‘My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To’
For all the blood-drinking and murders, the scariest part of My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To is the gnarled family dynamics between the siblings. Over dinner, Thomas shyly asks about going out, maybe for a drive. Jessie hits the table and snarls at him. When Jessie discovers Dwight is seeing a sex worker, Jessie deliberately targets her as a victim to feed Thomas. Despite these vindictive if not vicious acts, Jessie also dedicates herself to teaching Thomas, since he cannot go to school. She acts as his constant companion, devoting her life to his survival. She never flinches away from the ugliness of murder if it means Thomas gets to drink. This three-dimensional character design makes Jessie incredibly compelling to watch. Likewise, it layers tension into every scene she’s in. Thomas, Dwight, and the viewer never know which Jessie they’re getting; a dutiful sister or a chilling tyrant.
Dwight is a character who could be misread as simple, but like his sister, he possesses great depth. He is the sibling primarily pulling away from the warped dynamic, frequently expressing a desire to leave the family. And yet, he continues to endeavor for the same reasons as Jessie. Both siblings are loyal to Thomas and his continued existence, but this affection is as double-edged as the characters. The film does not tonally differentiate between the vampiric gore and the familial dread. This complex portrait of a family elevates My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To to be so much more than just a vampire movie.
Release Date April 15, 2020
Director Jonathan Cuartas
CastPatrick Fugit , Ingrid Sophie Schram , Owen Campbell , Moises L. Tovar , Judah Bateman , Katie Preston , Waine Riches , Nancy Fong , Steve Brown , Micah White , Adrienne Akers , Jesse Brown , Gary McLaren , Jeffrey Hanson
Runtime 89 Minutes
Writers Jonathan Cuartas
My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To is available to stream on Pluto TV.
Image by Nimesh Niyomal Perera
Image Via Dark Sky Films 
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English (US) ·