User reviews

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 .

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.

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.

Occult-noir stars Mickey Rourke as a 1950s private investigator named Harry Angel who accepts an assignment from a mysterious client (Robert De Niro) to locate a missing band singer named Johnny Favorite. Rourke displays a likably rumpled and oily panache here (as much as any rumpled, oily man can display a flair), and De Niro is deliciously gauche and evil, but smart viewers will be able to figure out this mystery long before Rourke's Angel does. There are subplots to distract you: Charlotte Rampling as a scarily statuesque New Orleans grande dame; Brownie McGhee as a jazz musician afraid to say what he knows; and Lisa Bonet as an eerily fragile voodoo princess. Director Alan Parker, who also adapted the script from William Hjortsberg's novel "Falling Angel", thinks atmosphere, mood, climate--and sexual underpinnings--will carry the load here, but his picture is frustratingly underwritten while at the same time being ridiculously overblown. Parker keeps this gory, sexy beast grinding like a disco dancer bathed in blood. The whole thing thumps along menacingly into dark, seamy corners--and yet, aside from all the voodoo ambiance, there's not a whole lot going on (Parker is a pro at hiding this until the ending, which has a high "Oh, brother!" quotient). In a brief role as a nurse, Kathleen Wilhoite manages to make a direct connection with the audience--and Rourke is alert and intriguing--yet the plot is a juvenile horror gothic, displacing mystery and conjecture with B-movie clichés. ** from ****

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

My Rating : 7/10

'Angel Heart' is a psychological thriller which you can tell by the actors' dialogues and wardrobe that it was made in the 80's. Cheesy. I enjoyed it though. You can tell the plot twist from a mile away nonetheless it's a fun ride to be on with Mickey Rourke's detective act trying to figure out the mystery. Well-acted, directed and brilliantly photographed and with two of the best Hollywood heavyweights, what more could you ask for? A clean 7/10 for me.

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.

I watched this in 4k, a restoration that's been raved about, and all I can say is the original blu ray can't have been great, as to my eyes, the 4k is a good standard blu ray quality, nothing more.

As for the film, it's an entertaining couple of hours , but I certainly wouldn't call it a classic, and it's one of those films that once you've seen the reveal, you've seen it, there aren't layers here making it worth rewatching. And you might be like me and work it all out early on.

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).

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.