Review of Angel Heart (1987) by Edgar C — 04 Jan 2014

Perfectly paced and with a language, scenario and performances worthy of a good deceitful and dangerous noir, Parker directs a chilling puzzle thriller with scary demonic aspects one year before Mississippi Burning (1988). Set in a 1950s Brooklyn, Mickey Rourke plays private detective Harry Angel, who is hired by a mysterious man, Louis Cyphre, to investigate the whereabouts of Johnny Favorite, supposedly because of a personal debt that he has with Cyphre. The only task of Angel consists in reporting anything he can find about Johnny Favorite, whether he is alive or dead, and if he is alive, where. Things begin to turn nasty and disturbingly ritualistic as Angel's investigation goes deeper.

With an assaulting imagery and an unprecedented genre twist (add a plot twist for messing with your mind), the film merges the film style of its decade with the mind tricks and characters of a noir while managing to avoid an X rating. Surprising and intelligent, with the always spectacular presence by the legendary Robert DeNiro, scaring audiences with carefully delivered lines of dialogue, a physical posture and a stare that would make you go: "I'm sorry, man, I really didn't mean that. Please don't kill me. Stop looking at me like that!".

77/100.