User reviews

To my knowledge, this is the first film I've seen that is entirely filmed in Nova Scotia, Canada, or at least the first one that puts forward the region so prominently. I must say I'm deeply impressed by the beauty of this area, and that alone made "Sweet Angel Mine" worth viewing. One the other hand, one could state that, if the filming locations are the best part of a thriller, there's something seriously wrong with the film itself.

"Sweet Angel Mine" is a bizarre and semi-ambitious mix between coming-of-age, occult thriller and feminist drama. A young Londoner on a motorcycle cruises across the woods and small towns of Nova Scotia, hoping to unravel the mystery of what happened to his father, who disappeared here many years ago. The answers he seeks might be found in an isolated farmhouse run by a family of women (spooky grandma, enigmatic mother, pure daughter), but the boy is more interested in diving into the haystack with the daughter; - and maybe also the mother. The script isn't great, but nevertheless compelling enough to keep you interested. Also, whenever the story tends to get boring or overly pointless, director Curtis Radclyffe effectively inserts a bit of sex or macho bar fights. The ending is foreseeable, at least if you are into this sort of cinema, but it's pleasingly grim and mean-spirited. Decent performances, too, most notably from the gorgeous Alberta Watson ("The Keep", "The Soldier")

This Psychoesque film has a lot to recommend it: #1 Nova Scotia (Makes me want to go there); #2 - engaging characters - even the bad characters are strangely attractive #3 - fearlessness of the main character Paul (his naive self confidence gets him in trouble.) Highlight of the film - Paul's first dream. Worst moment - the pitiful ropes which were restraining him as bad things were about to happen. It was so bad you could see the space between the rope and his wrist (right hand) - I know my 2 1/2 year old grand son, Gus could have easily slipped out of the rope.

I did enjoy the movie - flashbacks in black and white were effective. Mom & Daughter were alluring - Grandma disgusting - no surprise there! Fairly early in the movie you will "get it" even if you are not overly movie savvy. Yet worth the time. DonB

I managed (unlike several others) to catch the film from about 5 minutes in. The film summary caught my interest but I felt the first 10 minutes went slowly as the young man rode his motorbike around Nowhere, Nova Scotia.

Once he had met up with the odd family, things began to get interesting.

Some of the scenes were very well set up especially his encounter with Rauchine in the barn where she seemed 'disinterested' in his attentions.

Disturbing in parts, and Rauchine's innocence made me feel a bit squeamish at times. The Grandmother was a bit tedious, immediately evoking the image of Norman's mother in Psycho.

Top marks to Alberta Watson who, as the mother, exhibited menace and allure at the same time. What a tiger!

Only gripe? The scene in the local bar was clumsy and didn't help the story at all. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes.

What a pity it was shown so late on TV. Definitely a film you either love or loathe. I loved it. If you like this kind of film you should also try to see "Tick Tock".

How do I love this movie? Let me count the ways. OK. I'm done counting. I can count the ways I love this movie on fewer than the fingers of one hand. In fact, I wouldn't even need one finger. Not unless I was using my middle finger.

This is the type of movie where you root for the young lover-wannabes to NOT get together at the end. This is the type of movie where you root for the entire cast of characters to die in the end. And speaking of root, this is the type of movie that gives undergoing a root canal a good name. That's what I wish I'd been doing instead of watching this movie---undergoing a root canal.

One really has to wonder how this film got by the Canadian Board of Tourism. Not to mention the Province of Nova Scotia's Chamber of Commerce. That's where it takes place. ("Come visit beautiful Nova Scotia. You, too, can act like an idiot!") The plot? Why bother? When every character in a movie can't get a clue, ESPECIALLY the two young lovers, then any alleged plot becomes meaningless. The best ending for this movie would have been for all of its characters, in one mass group-in, to have thrown themselves into the Atlantic Ocean from atop the rocky Nova Scotian cliffs. And to have taken the director (Curtis Radclyffe) with them! That, finally, would have been the first thing about this movie to make any sense.

"Sweet Angel Mine." Never judge a movie by its title. I did. And because I did, I wasted nearly two hours of my lifetime. That's two lost hours that can never be reclaimed. A root canal, at least, when it's all over, turns out to have been worthwhile time well spent.

Bizarre, to be sure. Has a look and feel like a low budget 70's exploitation flick.

The acting is actually pretty good, and so is the the cinematography.

The "surprise" is pretty easy to predict.

It's nice to see the great British actress Anna Massey. She deserves to be in better films. Remember her in Hitchcock's "Frenzy?"

Content-wise, this is really a dark and perverse film. No kids allowed.

I caught this film at the Welsh International Film festival a couple of years ago, and it stood out (decapitated) head and shoulders above anything else. It's a superbly-crafted thriller about a man searching for his missing father, and finding a hell of a lot more in the shape of an isolated matriarchal family in Nova Scotia. The script, acting, use of locations, and most of all the superb atmosphere combine to make this one of the best films I've ever seen. It's a real pity it's not well known, as it certainly beats most of Hollywood's output hands down.

Paul is a Londoner in Canada, looking for his Dad (I saw it from about 1/2 hour in). He meets Roisin ("Rasheen" as she's called in the credits), a girl with an extremely unfriendly, possessive mother. Lurking in the background is Roisin's even more evil grandmother.

What develops is a solid mystery as to this house of women, Paul becoming increasingly hostile and frightened of the mother Megan, and him wanting to help Roisin get away and see what life has to offer.

It's all explained quite neatly by the end, helped along by decent acting, a fairly good script, and some really quite horrifying moments. Definite shades of Psycho in this.

I think its pretty sad that this movie didnt do so well with the overall audience. The movie had a very short life span on VHS and was quickly taken off the shelves everywhere it had been released (US,canada and UK) I think that Is a shame, Its nearly impossible to find for rent and you cant buy it anywhere it seems, not even ebay. anyway moving on to my thoughts on the movie.... Well, I caught it from around the middle (where the mother gets all crazy on the guy near the water and walks off) so i probably missed alot, but from what i did see It was reall really good. It had a pretty unique storyline in my opinion, wasnt really a horror film like for ex halloween or that stuff, it was a phychodrama thriller, and a damn good one. It was a low budget film but not quite a B film. The quality was good and it had at least 3 fairly well-known actors, and it had minimal unnecicary gore (unlike some crappy films) I would definately buy it if it were available, and itys worth the time that it runs to watch it, I'd like to see rauchine's character (margaret langrick) in some newer movies, but it seems that this was her last one she did. It really is a crying shame this isnt more well known and isnt available anymore, but anyway it is a really good movie and I'd love to see it again all the way.

I caught this film about 30 mins into it. I have to say it captured me right away and I couldn't stop watching. I disagree with some of the comments of people who say it had no plot, clearly they were not watching the film!!! To be honest it had a very disturbing storyline that somehow managed to draw you into the film in a rather uncomfortable way. I would go as far to say as you may have felt unpleasant whilst watching the film due to its disturbing screenplay. Whilst never feeling actually scared it seemed all too believable for me and made me feel somewhat uncomfortable and unsafe, a feeling I do not feel happy with. If the intent of this film was to disturb it did so well and this is a credit to the acting skills of all involved, who made this film seem like sick a documentary rather than a film.

I would not recommend seeing this film as it is rather disturbing and all too real, however I must commend it as a milestone in cinematography.

A young British man named Paul (Oliver Milburn) is in Canada searching for his father. He stumbles upon a farm in a remote part of Nova Scotia, where a beautiful woman and daughter are the only people for miles. Paul gets hired on to do some work around the place.

At first, it's an ideal situation, until Paul begins to suspect that there's something wrong with mum and her "angel". Circumstances arise that threaten Paul's sanity and his life.

SWEET ANGEL MINE is a subtle thriller / chiller, right up until the all-hell-breaks-loose finale. It contains some rather gruesome images and sequences. There's romance mixed with disturbing psychosexual occurrences. It gets high marks for originality and a bizarre story line...