Angel Heart (1987) User Reviews

Matures with age and grows on audiences and film connoisseurs alike!

[luke-346 · 8/10 · 7 December 2007]

I'm glad I caught this because what was seen by many as a poor film in 1987 can only be seen as great film in 2007. Angel Heart is one of those films that matures with age and grows on audiences and film connoisseurs alike. A psychological horror/thriller is one of the hardest genres for a director to prosper in but if you were to mix in spiritual and religious elements along with a heap of film noir, a touch of romance and a smidgen of jazz then you would set yourself a near impossible task, nevertheless it would be a task in which Alan Parker would succeed.

The direction of this film is masterful as Parker engages us through a meticulous atmosphere littered with mysterious allegories, gut rendering paranoia and an unmatched sense of place. This unmatched sense of place is a symptom of his stark imagery and sombre lighting which is played out through an amalgamation of film noir and the focal iconography of 50s and 60s French New Wave (the use of elevators, ceiling fans, staircases etc).

For many of these reasons and more Angel Heart is a very influential film and its inspirations can be seen in many of the psychological thrillers/horrors released in the past 20 years, it is thought provoking and at times a lot more disturbing than any of its genre equivalents. The multi-faceted love scene in the film is one such example, it plays very well as it is cleverly interspersed with a host demonic echelons which (given its style and narrative position) I believe to be unparallelled, even in contemporary cinema.

Overall Angel Heart is a very well paced and well acted film – although initially I felt that having Mickey Rourke in the lead role was a poor choice (based on his more recent work) but clearly he was at his acting best in his younger days almost Oscar-worthy, Robert De Niro is also on form as is the young Lisa Bonet – but these performances combined with everything else make Angel Heart a film that will stick with you, not as much as Midnight Express or Mississippi Burning (dir. Alan Parker), but enough to make you ponder why this film wasn't so successful upon its initial release and enough to curse why he didn't spend more time dabbling in the psychological/horror genre.

I recently blew the dust off of my copy and watched it again

[plumberguy66 · 21 June 2002]

And I can't believe I never threw my two cents in about this one. When I first saw Angel Heart, I thought it was going to be your regular old mystery. Like a Mamet or Spillane yarn about a down on his luck private investigator drawn into a web of lies and deceit… Oh yeah, it IS like that… and then some. I was completely drawn into this movie. I found it perfectly paced. And just like other movies of this type, could not see the end coming at all. However from the beginning it felt like something was kind of different about THIS yarn. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Kind of like the feeling you get as your walking out of the house and you just know you forgot something but you can't remember what. It was like that, a ‘nagging at the back of your brain' feeling. And then, oh boy! When all is revealed you wish you would have just left without what ever it was you were missing, ‘cause what you find is oh-so frightening. What a terribly wonderful story and what great direction. I can't think of anybody better that De Niro for the roll he played. If you own it: watch in again. If you haven't seen it, you must.

This left a lasting impression

[thniels · 7/10 · 26 August 1999]

I saw this movie in the theatre when it was originally released, urged by a fascination with the occult. If nothing else I lost this fascination. The long, low key and beautifully composed build-up towards the climax had me leave the theatre feeling disgusted. Trevor Jones' music was brilliant and a few days after seeing the movie I bought the soundtrack. While the record spun often on the record player, I didn't see the movie again until a few days ago - and the magic hadn't left. Thrilling.

Musically the best part is Lillian Boutté's dramatic rendition of "The Right Key, The Wrong Keyhole". A highlight of the record as well.

A superb movie.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 30 October 2020]

Such an impressive movie, if like me you're a fan of noir, or neo noir, then you will absolutely love this movie.

The first thing you will be struck by is the appearance of the film, it is a visual masterpiece, the attention to detail is flawless, you could actually turn the colour off, and imagine this being made in 1955.

Secondly, the atmosphere, smoke filled rooms, the clothes, music, accents, just awesome to behold, they got the tone spot on.

It's a great story, it takes a few moments for you to know what's happening, and get the direction, but you will.

Finally the acting, Rourke is at his absolute best, one of the best films I've seen him in, he is tremendous, it's so nice to see him in his handsome pre surgery years. De Niro, what can you say, he's just incredible.

Captivating, 9/10.

It must be better than I think it is.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 4 April 2014]

Set in mid-1950s America, Angel Heart stars Mickey Rourke as tough New York private detective Harry Angel, who is hired by the mysterious Louis Cyphyre (Robert DeNiro) to discover the whereabouts of Johnny Favourite, a famous blues musician who has apparently reneged on a business deal.

This is one of those films that seems to have garnered almost unanimous praise, so I feel a bit stupid in admitting that I found the narrative kinda hard to follow; a lot of the symbolism also seems to have gone right over my head, making the film a bit of a chore to fully comprehend. Angel Heart is, however, an undeniably stylish movie, with excellent visuals that make particularly good use of light and shadow (imbuing proceedings with that all-important pulp/film-noir atmosphere). So if, like me, you struggle with the complexity of the plot, at least there's lots of lovely cinematography to enjoy.

5/10, bumped up to 6 for no other reason than to make me appear slightly less of a Philistine/idiot.

This detective movie is on fire with nasty seedy desire.

[King Poet · 6/10 · 11 May 2000]

I checked this movie out only because Lisa Bonet (Denise Huxtable-Kendall from The Bill Cosby Show) was gonna be in it. I heard her beauty is really showcased here. Well I was all for that right? But what I found was a striking movie, beautifully told. Oh yea, and Lisa Bonet definitely brakes that goody-two-shoes image. A goddess in the making. Cinematography was excellent. Rourke, and DiNero are great. Must see.

Rourke's finest role in an atmospheric classic

[amesmonde · 16 March 2010]

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.

Supernatural Film-Noir - disturbing, unsettling and flawed.

[Lorenzo H. · 6/10 · 4 March 2000]

This motion picture will stay with you long after you've seen it. It has a tendency to leave you feeling quite disturbed and unsettled. This can be attributed mainly to the films last 15 minutes, wherein the lead character Harry Angel, a private investigator (played by Mickey Rourke), learns the emotionally devastating truth behind the case he has been working on. Rourke is quite good throughout the entire movie, lending his character a certain sleazy-cool charm, but it is in the films last few moments that he shines best. His harrowing display of pain in these scenes is so intense and believable that you truly feel his despair. Robert De Niro who appears in only a few scenes (in a key role), also does good work.

Now for the down side. Director Alan Parker from the very beginning imbues his film with such a heavy atmosphere of impending doom that we hardly have a chance to breathe. If he had perhaps lightened up a bit in those earlier scenes, the ending would have slowly crept up on us and been even more shocking and disturbing than it was. Also he attempts to combine the horror and detective genres with only moderate success (especially in the later case). What usually thrills us about classic film-noir detectives is their sarcastic wit and hip dialogue. This verbal element is sorely lacking in ANGEL HEART, so the audience tends to latch onto the visual aspects of the investigation which are not enough to keep us totally riveted for the first two thirds of the film. On occasion the director also loses his sense of subtlety and allows sex, blood and gore to steal the show (as in the bedroom scene with Rourke and Lisa Bonet).

The above complaints aside, ANGEL HEART is an unforgettable and haunting film which though not a totally pleasant experience, is still worth a look, especially if you like films dealing in psychological horror.

Final Verdict: 6 out of 10.

Alan Parker's Masterpiece

[jcanettis · 10/10 · 22 December 2004]

"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.

Wasted Opportunity

[redhotmustafa-1 · 6/10 · 5 March 2017]

The cinematography, the pictures, the sites, the atmosphere - very good. The story - good enough to make something memorable out of it.

But...The acting and directing is so poor. Mickey Rourke is such a "nothing". He is maybe handsome but you don't buy it in the movie. Cool ? Clever ? Emotional ? No, just nothing, no depth, no character, just a bum walking around. And that is the last thing such a story should do.

The directing - every time there is action I asked myself "why are they running around ?" You just don't buy it, like the whole story in total. And everything looks so unconnected. No depth creation for the main character is the most serious lack of the movie.

Can't keep wondering what David Fincher could have made out of it.

Love it or hate it - it looks stunning - very memorable

[Oggz · 9/10 · 24 February 2005]

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.

Immensely enjoyable mystery.

[Hey_Sweden · 8/10 · 2 July 2012]

"Angel Heart" is a true standout film among director Alan Parkers' filmography: a seedy, depressing, disturbing, provocative, and mesmerizing mystery with all the creepy imagery one could hope for. It begins on a very ominous note and remains gripping all the way through its serpentine story. Mickey Rourke, in one of his very best performances, stars as Harry Angel, low rent NYC private eye hired by mysterious Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro, who's fantastic) to locate a vanished crooner named Johnny Favourite. His search leads him from NYC to New Orleans, and with the story (based on the novel "Falling Angel" by William Hjortsberg) taking place in the mid-1950s, that merely adds to the overpowering atmosphere. Along the way, the dead bodies start piling up, and Harry finds things just getting more and more gloomy as his search moves inexorably towards its devastating conclusion. I think that a key to this films' success is that it *can* work even for the viewer who knows the major revelations beforehand, or guesses at them early on. It's the gravitas that Parker and his fine cast brings to the proceedings that make it so compulsively watchable. Also appearing are Charlotte Rampling, beautiful as ever, in the role of black magic practitioner Margaret, and the stunning Lisa Bonet, who's memorable in the role of young mother Epiphany. Familiar faces in smaller roles include Pruitt Taylor Vince, as a detective (he acted again for Parker in "Mississippi Burning"), Kathleen Wilhoite, as a nurse, Michael Higgins as a drug-addicted doctor, musician Brownie McGhee as Toots Sweet, and Dann Florek ('Law & Order: SVU') as an attorney. As this story plays out, one just knows that whatever Harry finds out, it won't be pleasant, and the dark tone extends to the memorable sex scene, which is erotic and creepy in equal measure. The music score by Trevor Jones is suitably eerie and there's a serving of blues music that is irresistible, adding to the overall experience. In the end there's a strong message about the nature of living a lie, and the final confrontation between two characters is brilliantly subtle, depending on acting rather than spectacle or much in the way of cheese. This represents a solid effort from all concerned. Eight out of 10.

Controversial look at killings , voodoo cults and intrigue in 1955 New Orleans

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 16 April 2022]

A marginal , slimy private eye : Mickey Rourke is hired by a strange man who calls himself Luis Cyphre : Robert De Niro to track down a singer called Johnny Favorite , a missing singer, then things go wrong , resulting in fateful consequences , but It will scare you to your very soul . As his investigations lead him to the bizare World of the occult in New Orleans , where the blood drips to a different beat . Harry Angel is searching for the truth.. play he doesn't find it ! . Nothing can prepare you for the ending of Angel Heart ! .

A thrilling , terrifying , intriguing film about a twisted investigation that takes a somber and unexpected turn at a striking climax . Mickey Rourke stars as a down-and-out private investigator who is given a rather bizarre case to solve and giving an acceptable acting . While Robert De Niro steals the show as the dapper , elegant and more than slightly sinister and devilish Louis Cyphre who wants to find a lost singer in order to settle a vague debt. And Lisa Bonet defiantly her image as as young innocent who showed up in Bill Cosby Show. A visually provokating movie , with a strong sex scene between Rourke and Bonet , captured R-ratings and unrated versions . Abolutely not for kiddies or the squeamish .

It contains a colorful, glmmering and stimulating cinematography by Michael Seresin , showing an exotic New Orleans and Louisiana. As well as an exciting and mysterious musical score by Trevor Ravin . It displays a clever and twisted script by Alan Parker himself , adapted by Parker from "Falling Angel" by William Hjortsberg and being well directed . Parker builds the story little by little to a surprising final . Alan Parker was a good writer and director who made some nice and successful -at times- movies , such as : "Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Fame , Shoot the Moon , Pink Floyd : The Wall , Birdy , Mississippi Burning , Come See the Paradise, The Commitments , The Road to Wellville , Evita, Angela's asses , The Life of David Gale" , among others . Rating : 6.5/10. Better than average . The pic will appeal to Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro fans .

Perhaps the most underrated film of all time

[magic_marker · 10/10 · 8 June 2002]

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.

Very Captivating Detective Story With a Voodoo Horror Twist

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 26 May 2011]

Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) has a new case, to find a man called Johnny Favourite. Except things aren't quite that simple...

First of all, I am used to seeing Mickey Rourke as a deformed mutant humanoid beast. So, as much as I should be embarrassed to admit it, I cannot even recognize him when he looks like a normal and handsome younger man. He is also a good lead actor (though I suppose we know that by now with "The Wrestler").

I think of this film as a cross between "Chinatown" and "The Serpent and the Rainbow". It has the detective angle of "Chinatown", with people turning up dead, questionable connections and a private dick who may have to hide from the cops himself (well, that could be "Maltese Falcon", too, I suppose). "Serpent"? Well, just the voodoo aspect, and both films came out about the same time -- this being the better of the two (sorry Wes Craven).

I have seen reviews calling this the creepiest performance of Robert DeNiro's career. I will not agree or disagree, but accept it as possible. I mean, I do not normally think of him as a creeper, so what do I compare this to -- "Cape Fear", I guess. Or "Little Fockers".

Roger Ebert says director "Parker's films are always made with great gusto, as if he were in up to his elbows and taking no hostages" -- he uses "The Wall" as an example, which is nothing like this film, but they both do have an intensity that any moviegoer ought to appreciate. Ultimately, Ebert calls the film "an exuberant exercise in style" and gives it a bold three and a half stars... I am hesitant to match that, leaning more towards a solid three. But yes, this is that rare good movie that gets overlooked by the target audience.

Grade: A

[tideprince · 1 December 2004]

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.

ANGEL HEART (DIDIER BECU)

[Didier-Becu · 7/10 · 18 October 2003]

For me, Alan Parker always used to be one of the most genius directors ever as Parker can create atmospheres like no one else can... "Angel heart" featuring Mickey O'Rourke and the as always godlike Robert De Niro is one of the more difficult movies from Parker. Rourke plays the jobless detective Angel who is hired by a man called Louis Cyphre (=Lucifer) who wants to know if a crooner is still alive or not. Little by little Angel is involved in a web in where black magic rules and the VCR might be the perfect tool to investigate some difficult parts (as all by all this movie ain't easy) but the end clears a lot... Not Parker's best one therefore the cinematographic arts are just a bit too aged but still an enjoyable movie and I am sure that from now on you will look at De Niro's fingernails in every movies you'll see by him....

Parker's peak,Rourke's finest performance.

[dbdumonteil · 9/10 · 12 August 2001]

I do not go much for that Parker kind of stuff("Midnight express" ,albeit technically breathtaking was a little racist,"Shoot the moon" was a big bore,and you've got to be into Pink Floyd to appreciate such a work as "the wall")"Angel Heart " is a different matter,because it deals with the horror and fantasy genre.Against all odds,for someone who had never tackled this difficult genre,Parker succeeded magnificently.The screenplay is first-rate,with a strong story,with an ending you'll never guess (and I will not reveal it of course!)Including drugs,voodoo,sabbath ,intense love scenes,featuring a wonderful cast:Rourke,who had never been better (and never would)and a frighteningly deadpan DeNiro cast as Louis Cipher,this movie takes us along in a meandering,labyrinthine investigation in which private detective Rourke will find so dreadful things he won't escape unharmed. The supporting cast is excellent:Charlotte Rampling stays only a few minutes on the screen ,and yet,we remember her and her tea.The same goes for the junkie doctor.I'd tone it for one thing:the elevator scene might have been borrowed from an old French movie,"Huis clos",directed by Jacqueline Audry,from Jean-Paul Sartre's play(1956).

A dark and beautiful trip on the bayou

[Peach-2 · 7/10 · 16 November 1998]

Alan Parker's Angel Heart is an amazing film accomplishment in style, but has not near as much substance to help it to its climax. The film takes some interesting twists and turns but never really becomes more than a study in modern film-noir. Mickey Rourke is perfectly cast, as is De Niro. Lisa Bonet does a wonderful job and the love scene between her and Rourke is true to their characters and not exploitation. The film is full of interesting moments and has a good twist at the end. Entertaining but incomplete.

A melting pot of suspenseful genres mixed pretty well

[Movie_Muse_Reviews · 7/10 · 9 July 2009]

"Angel Heart" is a '50 noir-style murder mystery done in the 1980s in living -- and bleeding -- color. It's a very straightforward story that ends up being more than meets the eye, mixing in horror and satanic elements to become a one-of-a-kind thriller.

Private detective Harry Angel (Rourke) takes on a case to locate an old-time crooner named Johnny Favourite, who has been missing since WWII. He is hired by Louis Cyphre (De Niro) who has an "unfinished contract" with Favourite. It's fairly apparent that the devil is owed someone's soul, but Angel doesn't pick up on these clues as obviously as we do. Angel goes from name to name in search of people who knew Favourite and a trail of murder follows mysteriously behind him.

Other than the delightfully creepy performance by De Niro, director and adapter Alan Parker deserves the praise for the enjoyable parts of this movie, namely it's suspense. His use of heartbeats for this dreadful suspense effect and the way he intercuts the scenes of shocking discovery with normal ones (such as a boy tap dancing in the streets of New Orleans) is nearly adrenaline-pumping. His depiction of rotating objects such as the fan and elevator cable spool is a bit blunt, but stylishly effective.

Being an '80s film, you definitely get a sense of movement toward the modern thriller as we know it today. The style of the film, its pacing, its tendency to sit quietly at times and be introspective -- these are things we've come to know from the genre 20 years later, but as a '50s period piece as well, there's a definite tribute to film noir in the characterization and acting. Rourke's Angel is much like those P.I.s that get in too deep from the '30s and '40s. The dialogue too is very much the same way.

Not spectacular but not disappointing, "Angel Heart" is entertaining and certainly unique. People who are into movies that involve elements of satanism, where the devil is a character, will certainly enjoy it more, but most will get enjoyment out of its classic mystery structure and intriguing twist.

One of the creepiest thrillers ever made

[dee.reid · 10/10 · 15 December 2001]

Harry Angel(Mickey Rourke) is a sleazy private detective in 1955 New York. One day, Harry is approached by a mysterious lawyer named Louis Cyphre(Robert De Niro). Louis also has unusually long fingernails and needs help in searching for a former client of his who disappeared mysteriously without ever paying him back. So Harry begins his investigation which takes him from the dark alleys and streets of New York to the hot, musty bayous of Louisiana. While there, he meets up with Epiphany Proudfoot(Lisa Bonet) who is a voodoo priestess and soon enough Harry becomes caught up in voodoo mysticism.

This is the first movie directed by Alan Parker that I've seen and is also the movie that introduced me to Mickey Rourke. The movie has a really dark atmosphere and I really like the heartbeat on the soundtrack that helps to build the tension. "Angel Heart" ranks up there with those really twisted supernatural thrillers like "The Sixth Sense" and "Jacob's Ladder". Why this movie hasn't gotten much attention over the last fourteen years I'll never know. What really makes this movie good is probably its 1950s setting which gives "Angel Heart" some originality. The film's ending just gives me the creeps because it just comes at you from out of no where and there is nothing that hints it. Viewers should also be cautioned when watching "Angel Heart" because it is extremely bloody and then of course there is that love scene between Mickey Rourke and Lisa Bonet which stirred up a little bit of controversy when it was first released back in 1987.

10/10

A good ending but painfully boring up until that point

[jtindahouse · 6/10 · 30 March 2021]

When looking through 1987 films to find one to watch I came across a film I had never heard of before 'Angel Heart'. It had Robert De Niro, Mickey Rourke in his prime, an interesting sounding plot and an 'X' rating (which I had to look up what it meant). I immediately knew this was going to be my 1987 film of choice. The actual product was a bit of a let down I'm sorry to say.

The biggest and most glaring problem this film has is simply that it's painfully boring. A mystery of sorts is set up and then we watch the character of 'Angel' going from person to person asking around trying to find a guy. We are given no reason to care about this mystery and very little along the way to mix things up and keep it interesting. Now I understand that there is more going on beneath the surface, as we later find out, but that doesn't help the 100 minutes of runtime that we have to sit through twiddling our thumbs.

The only things that save this film are Rourke giving a very charismatic and committed performance, De Niro giving us absolute gold in his unfortunately very limited screentime, and also an above average twist ending. Without that ending I suspect this film would not have the positive perception about it that people seem to have. I enjoyed the ending undoubtedly but it wasn't enough to redeem the tedious runtime that leads up to that. This one wasn't for me.

One of the best American horror films of the 1980s

[Leofwine_draca · 9/10 · 19 May 2015]

As dark and brooding a slice of American Gothic as you could wish for, ANGEL HEART is one of the best straight horror outings to come out of the late '80s – a time when most genre offerings were cheesy, rubbery outings of stupidity. ANGEL HEART is in essence a mood piece. Set during the 1950s, it chronicles the efforts of a private detective to track down a missing person who soon finds himself in some very dark places. With a string of unpleasant sex and violence scenes, excellent direction from the always-good Alan Parker and some quite wonderful performances, this is a real classic. There aren't that many films that deal with modern-day voodoo in a non-biased way so this one's a real treat.

Parker is adept at crafting atmosphere and you can almost smell the cigarette smoke in this seedy, grubby little film. Mickey Rourke, in a career-best performance, is Harry Angel, the protagonist. Angel is a pretty unpleasant guy who thinks nothing of using violence as a method and yet Rourke embodies him with a raw humanity that makes us warm to him from the start. Although he's the archetypal tough guy he projects an air of bruised vulnerability that makes him riveting to see on screen. He has some great supporting actors with him, too; Lisa Bonet excels in a layered performance as the voodoo-practising Epiphany Proudfoot; Charlotte Rampling as a fortune teller; finally Robert De Niro, as great as ever as the sinister Louis Cyphre.

The film is pretty slowly paced but laced with moments of action and violence that breathe life into it. My attention never wavered for a second. There are occasional missteps – I could have done without the 'glowing eye' stuff that takes place at the climax, that only serves to cheapen the effect; good when used in films like FRIGHT NIGHT, but not here! But the handling of Rourke's gradual realisation as he pieces together the mystery and his final understanding of the true horror of his situation is top notch and the film then ends on an unforgettable piece of imagery. Altogether a great work and a film I thoroughly enjoyed.

One of my favorite 1980s films, still holds up well

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 24 July 2022]

Ambitious, ingenious meddling of the private-eye with the supernatural thriller: writer-director Alan Parker cannot keep his pace from flagging a few times, but he fills the screen with symbolic, sinister, foreboding images; the atmosphere is so vivid you can almost breathe it. Robert De Niro appears only sporadically but gives a delicious performance that must rank among his 3 or 4 all-time best (the egg scene is unforgettable). Lisa Bonet is remarkably sensual in her film debut. And Trevor Jones' jazzy score is absolutely terrific. *** out of 4.

DVD Transfer Enhances This Sordid-But-Intriguing Movie

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 21 January 2007]

This is a very sordid film. I usually don't go for that sort of thing, but there are a lot of other good things about this movie that made me add this to my collection.

There is very good cinematography and camera-work in here, made even better by the special edition DVD transfer. I liked the old film-noir type atmosphere in the story, which is an interesting one overall.

There are no really good-guy characters in this film. Mickey Rourke plays the star of the movie: private eye "Harry Angel." He's somewhat of a low-life but so is everyone else. Lisa Bonet looks spectacular and has a steamy sex scene in here. Robert De Niro gets big billing but he doesn't have that many lines in this film.

The ending of this movie has a very unique twist to it, but it's certainly not a satisfying ending. It is one I should go back over after the next viewing and check for credibility. That's all I can say without using spoilers.

Overall, a sleazy but very intriguing story, with great atmosphere, that I enjoy watching every five years or so. Some would call this movie a modern-day "film noir."