“My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To” is out today on DVD

With a long festival run along 2020 and 2021, My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To (2020) has achieved a big fanbase that considers the movie one of the most interesting independent titles in the horror genre of the last years. Bloody-Disgusting called it “It’s an entire meditative, brooding feature that centers on the question of how far you would go in the name of family. [Director Jonathan] Cuartas captures that in the form of personal sacrifice and ruination, in the most bittersweet and devastating way”, while The New York Times said, “This may be dark fodder for a family project, but the result is a visually striking meditation on obligation and complicity”.

The movie centers on Dwight and his sister Jessie who reach a crossroads over what to do about their younger brother Thomas’ mysterious illness. The increasingly dangerous task of keeping him alive weighs heavy on sensitive Dwight, and as a fiercely private and close-knit family unit, Thomas and Jessie depend on him and the rituals they’ve learned in order to keep their secret. Dwight yearns for another life, but Jessie will stop at nothing to keep her family together.

This dark awards-winner tale is the debut feature film of writer and director Jonathan Cuartas. The main cast of the movie is formed by Patrick Fugit, Ingrid Sophie Schram, Owen Campbell, Moises L. Tovar, Judah Bateman, and Katie Preston.

My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To (2020) has taken part in film festivals like Tribeca Film Festival, Shanghai International Film Festival, Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist, MOTELX – Lisbon International Horror Film Festival, Calgary Film Festival, Nightstream, Sitges Film Festival, São Paulo International Film Festival, Molins Film Festival, Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival, Splat!FilmFest Horror Film Festival, or Panic Fest where it achieved numerous awards and nominations.

Now, it is scheduled for a Blu-Ray and DVD release via Dark Sky Films on August 10, 2021. Watch here the official trailer for My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To (2020).