Angel Heart DVD

Advantages: dark brooding masterpiece
Disadvantages: a bit too dark and violent for some tastes.

Harry Angel (Mickey Rouke) is that cliche down at heal private detective who is offered a large rate of pay to look for a missing big band singer, Johnny Favorite. His client is the mysterious Louis Cyphre (Robert DeNiro) an elegant and sinister benefactor whose motives dont become apparent until the end of the film. Angel follows up various leads but some other force is at work, all of the people he needs to interview, or who he comes involved with ...
...As each murder takes place Angel slowly realises the truth of what is going on and the nightmare that he is caught up in, and the reasons for Cyphres interest in a has been singer. Its difficult to give more of the plot away with out spoiling the whole movie as its one of those sixth sense type thrillers, and the last thing you want me to give away is Angel Hearts equivilant of "he was dead all along", sorry to those who havent seen sixth sense. ... Read review

Advantages: Good actors, interesting story, good ending
Disadvantages: May seem a little slow to begin with

...~The Story~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ Harry Angel is a private detective who is contracted by Mr Cyphre to track down a singer called Johnny Favourite who owes him money. He needs to find out if this guy is still alive or not. So Angel sets off on the trail to find him. He manages to find a few people who knew him or worked with people who knew him, but after Angel meets with these people - they become victim to a gruesome murder. It seems as though someone ...
...these people he has been talking to. Angel, himself, becomes a suspect in two of the murders and as he delves deeper into his quest to find this missing singer he realises that there's a lot more going on than he could ever have imagined. That is all I shall tell you about the story of the film. I was lucky in that no one had told me anything about this film - all I knew was what I read on the back of the video cover! And believe me if that is all ... Read review

Advantages: Grim atmosphere adds to the plot
Disadvantages: Stays with you for ages

...title, I would give Angel Heart a miss and I did, so I didn't even bother to read anything about it. Many years later whilst in the middle of a media course at our local college, most of the group of students opted to watch Angel Heart out of a list of a dozen or so movies. I groaned and eagerly anticipated the drive home. Now I know what I missed the first time around. Angel Heart is a dark tale of mystery, suspense, voodoo, murder and a trail ...
...plays the part of Harry Angel a private eye who is hired by the mysterious Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro) to find a singer who has mysteriously disappeared. As Harry weaves his way through the plot, one by one his leads seem to end up dead which doesn't help his case. I won't lay bare the plot as this would spoil a new viewer's enjoyment of what is a very good film which invites you to work at it with Harry Angel whilst at the same time leading the ... Read review

Advantages: Atmospheric and well-acted
Disadvantages: The ending is a bit of cliché

...by Robert de Niro. Angel is set to find a missing person, a singer involved in black magic. His excursions into the world of the occult very quickly lead to ritual murder, for which Angel becomes a suspect. There's not much else I can say without giving away the ending, which is the whole point of the film. Angel discovers the culprit, and Cyphre's real identity. I have a few problems with this: although at first it seemed shocking, I now can't ...
...fairly daft idea that somewhat punctures the atmosphere set up by the rest of the film. Rourke and De Niro are excellent in this film, which succeeds in evoking a creepy and malevolent atmosphere. But I can't help feeling that it simply reveals an ignorance of the occult, and a certain lack of imagination, which is largely made up for by the performances and direction. ... Read review

Advantages: Atmospheric, powerful
Disadvantages: A bit too dark and disturbing my tastes.

...sympathy, especially Robert De Niro's satan character - only he could make eating a boiled egg full of sinister connotations! Yet again Angel Heart shows the remarkable versatility and intriguing choice of a director who is quite happy, like Lynch, to make films most other directors would shirk at. ... Read review