Angel Heart [HD]

THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT...
This is an intriguing, unusual, beautifully directed, highly atmospheric film that successfully crosses any number of genre: film noir, thriller, mystery, and horror. The plot is simple. In the mid nineteen fifties, a mysterious and slightly sinister business man, Louis Cypher (Robert De Niro), hires Brooklyn gumshoe, Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke), for a missing person case. Angel's investigation, for which he is being paid a princely sum for the time, takes him from Harlem to New Orleans, as he looks for a former crooner named Johnny Favorite, who sometime during the early nineteen forties apparently welched on a business deal with Louis Cypher and hasn't been heard from since.

What happens when Angel gets to New Orleans will be infused with voodoo rites, ritual murders and taboo sex. The Big Easy is hardly that for our erstwhile detective, as he becomes susceptible to a series of initially puzzling flashbacks. Moreover, it seems that everyone with whom he meets, who had a...

Excellent Unconventional Detective Tale
One of the greatest aspects about this film (to me) is that it is not quite a horror film, not quite a straight supernatural thriller and not totally a gritty detective movie either. It has elements of all three but does not stay consistently with the theme of any. The critics who called it "provocative and original" were correct because if nothing else, _Angel Heart_ is indeed those two things.

On the surface, the plot seems simple. A private investigator named Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) is hired by Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro) to find a big band singer from the 1940s, Johnny Favorite. Angel is hesitant at first but he accepts the job because it pays well. From the beginning of the investigation, Angel learns that Favorite must have had plenty of secrets to hide. I don't want to give too much of the plot away so if you want to watch the film without knowing much about its twists and turns, don't read on. Anyhow, it seems that Favorite had powerful friends who took him out of the...

Worthy Blu-Ray release of this excellent, and little known 80s gem!
Film: 5.0/5.0; Video: 4.0/5.0; Audio: 3.5/5.0

Obviously due to Mickey Rourke's well-earned success and critical acclaim with last year's "The Wrestler", we now receive a fairly expedient release of Alan Parker's "Angel Heart" on the Blu-Ray format, released on the long-defunct Carolco pictures from 1987.

First off I must mention that I am a big fan of this title. It is not a movie which will appeal to everyone, but I really enjoy the overall visual style and the feel (of impending doom) together with the scenery and the truly awesome music and sound cues which makes this a very original piece, and not in any way reminiscent of a typical 80s film. Coupled with a compelling story based on William Hjortsberg's novel "Falling Angel" and top-notch performances throughout makes this one well worth watching over again.

Ironically, this movie was released just before Mickey Rourke intensified his self-destructive process (which coincidentally is what makes...

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