Angel Heart (1987)

This was the only film that ever gave me sleepless nights. It is terrifying at an almost elemental level. I can understand why so many people gave this film a low rating; on first viewing it appears confused, plot less and strange, but, if you see it again, once the ending has been revealed, all the hidden meanings emerge from the woodwork and a truly shattering psychological experience reveals itself. Far from being confused, it is actually quite simple and straightforward. Far from being plot less, "Angel Heart" has one of the most intricate and well-constructed plots of any film I have seen. Every shot in this film carries a hidden meaning, from the opening with the young man's corpse, to the whispers in Harry Angel's ear, to Harry shattering a mirror, to the direction turned by the blades of fans. The more times you see the film, the more you understand and the more terrifying it becomes. In the movie "Hellraiser," there is a magic puzzle that once solved, opens the gates to Hell. "Angel Heart" is the same way; the more of this puzzle you put together, the closer you get to the final, soul-searing understanding.

Fmovies: I am told that people didn't like this film because it was hard to understand. If I told you the ending, you would not suffer a bit and could still enjoy this film immensely, but I won't spoil it.

It is a deep and dark film, set in 1955 in Harlem and New Orleans. Cheap detectives, voodoo, murder, sex, racism - it's all there to add to the mystery.

It is a mystery - a missing person case - where our hero, the two-bit detective (Mickey Rourke) goes looking for a man who has been missing for 12 years. His work takes him to New Orleans, where he gets involved with voodoo and Lisa Bonet ("The Cosby Show") in her film debut. And, what a debut it was, as she and Rourke gave us a scene that had all the appearance of reality.

The film also features Charlotte Rampling, who, while not giving us the show she did in The Night Porter, nevertheless provides a treat as she lies dead with her heart cut out.

And, we wouldn't want to leave out Elizabeth Whitcraft (Goodfellas, Working Girl) who gave the most skintastic performance of her career.

But, the real credit for the film goes to Robert De Niro, who plays a greasy looking character that hired Rourke, and provided the twisted ending that makes this film a horror classic.

I'm not in the least surprised that other reviewers either love this or hate it to bits - I also bet that it's the younger users to whom the nature of the visual narrative of the film - the way it's all told to us, the viewer - may seem a bit dated. And to a point, they're right - "Angel Heart" is totally an eighties film, a film of the decade in which the movie world was discovering a new visual language in video and playfully indulged in experimenting with its new toy. It was literally speaking to a generation straight out of MTV classrooms and workshops and is in that sense very similar to stuff like "Betty Blue". And true enough, there is a lot to remark on what can today be seen as a slightly poseur-ish "one too many revolving fans, angularly lit staircases and heartbeat sounds in the soundtrack" kind of thing. However, "Angel Heart" does carry a tremendous amount of energy thanks to its imagery, which will stick to the viewer's mind in exactly the same way a sweaty shirt sticks to the body in sticky weather. Besides, the impeccably drawn cast led by Rourke does a truly remarkable job - that's beyond question - the sets are great, production design and cinematography are very evocative, the soundtrack is memorable and the story is one of the crucial ones. I personally love it.

Give it a go by all means.

Angel Heart fmovies. "Angel Heart" deserves to be considered Alan Parker's masterpiece. The direction is truly amazing, as Parker drives us deeply through a meticulously prepared dark atmosphere, full of allegories and secret hints.

In "Angel Heart", we watch Mickey Rourke in his finest acting hour, who plays Harry Angel, a private investigator hired by the mysterious Louis Cyphre, depicted by the great Robert De Niro. Cyphre assigns Angel the task to find a guy named Johnny Favorite who has disappeared, with whom he has unsettled debts. The task is much harder than it first looks however, as Angel bumps into several murders in the process; and as if that were not enough, the quest makes him realize some very unpleasant truths about himself and Mr. Cyphre.

As noted before, both Rourke and De Niro are excellent in their roles; a high mark goes for the rest of the cast as well, with Lisa Bonnet standing out as charming and apocryphal Epiphany Proudfoot. Yet, the 10/10 mark for this film is definitely credited to Alan Parker's direction: It is his masterpiece.

I was stunned at what this film did to me. An absolutely brilliant display of psychological horror. Alan Parker made the scariest film of the eighties, maybe the scariest film of the second half of the century with this picture. The hell with "Psycho", "Angel Heart" is where it's at if you want horror.

I don't know how Parker hasn't become the Hitchcock of his generation after this film. I know some of his other work - "Evita" and Mississippi Burning" are two films of his that I happen to think are pretty good. But they're nothing like this. What Parker does so well here, what he seems to get better than any other director I've noticed since this film was made, is how atmosphere makes a movie. He has a real sense of place and time that's a key component to making the terror of this movie real.

Aside from Parker's talents, there are three performances without which the movie just wouldn't work.

Robert de Niro gives the second best performance of his career here, right next to "Raging Bull", and even that's pretty close. I'm not even normally a huge fan of de Niro's - I mean, don't get me wrong, he's a legend, but I find most of the time that I'm less impressed with him than most people are. Not here. In this movie, de Niro makes the simple act of eating an egg into a treatise on mortal dread. He should have received the Oscar for this performance, no question about it.

Lisa Bonet - what happened to her? Every couple of years I'll see her in something like this or "High Fidelity", and she's got all this charisma - she really is a superb actress. What she does here is really interesting because you can see that it's very underdone, a lot of subtlety. Which is a strange way to go if you're playing a voodoo priestess. But she's very vulnerable here. I think it's a shame she didn't become the star she could have. I'd love to see more work from her.

Mickey Rourke is another resident of the "Where are they now?" file. I've heard more from him recently though. He's been making a comeback of sorts. He's actually the primary reason I rented this movie, because I saw him in Sean Penn's "The Pledge" and wanted to see more of his stuff. He's the third performance that makes this movie complete, and he's the one who really has the hardest job, who has to strap it to his back and get it across the finish line. His is also the most important job, because he needs to instill the terror in you. It's through his eyes that you witness these bizarre events, and it's his reaction that makes it all the more terrifying.

Again, brilliant. Can't say enough about it. The last thirty seconds or so kind of sucks (those of you who've seen it know what I'm referring to), but I can just turn it off before that. Oddly, it doesn't ruin what's come before.

P.I Harry Angel has a new case, to find a man called Johnny Favourite, only it isn't a straight forward missing person's case. Prefect, grounded, Alan's Parker's voodoo-laden, hard-boiled film is the ultimate mystery film.

This is without a doubt Mickey Rourke's finest role. The supporting cast deliver some of the most interesting and story driven performances which include Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet and Charlotte Rampling to name a few.

You can feel 1955's New Orleans warm rain, hear the jazz, taste the grit of 1950's Brooklyn, Michael Seresin's cinematography is amazing. The films realism captures the time wholly, Trevor Jones mystery music builds up the tension as murders increase and Harry Angel is drawn into eventful dangerous meetings. The dialogue is flawless and the ending has a mind-blowing twist that has been imitated but never surpassed. The Johnny Favourite theme tune will linger with you long after the end credits.

A timeless, eerie and realistic atmospheric classic. Perfect.