To give away much of the plot would be to defeat the pleasure of a story well-told. 
Writer-director Eric Humble unfolds a series of bizarre, seemingly unrelated 
events that gradually, almost imperceptibly yield to the portrait of a tragic mystery—one 
which may never be fully solved.  Like the enigmas of a Chinese puzzle box, the colorful
characters that inhabit the world of The Tell reveal themselves through cryptic 
dialogue and endlessly shocking bursts of comic and occasionally violent behavior, daring 
you with each scene to trust or mistrust them, but always compelling you to sink deeper 
into the mystery, never giving you the option of looking away.  And from things as innocuous 
as a matchbook and a handful of playing cards, The Tell builds a mounting sense of menace as
 terrifying as a panic attack.