Angel Heart
It’s pretty difficult to come up with a list of the greatest horror movies of all time and NOT think of one that didn’t spawn several sequels of varying quality, but when one thinks of the best and scariest stand-alone horror flicks this 1987 film from Alan Parker invariably tops the list, a truly terrifying journey about one man’s search for the truth and the horrific consequences of discovering just that. Mickey Rourke (in his prime) plays Harry Angel, a sleazy, dirty private eye who one day is hired by a sinister client (Robert DeNiro) to take on what looks to be an ordinary missing persons case. Of course, it is a well-known fact to most that DeNiro is actually The Devil, and the individual that he is seeking is one that has apparently violated their “contract”. Angel takes on the case and sets on his journey, only to discover that the subject of his investigation apparently does NOT want to be found, as every lead that Angel pursues winds up dead, usually in a gruesome manner, and the case winds up consuming him until he finds himself in a true living nightmare. While it might be said that Rourke was putting his slob ladies man persona to good use here, the fact is that he does an excellent job of carrying the movie on his back (especially with DeNiro having limited screen time), putting us in the shoes of his character and engaging the viewer in such a way that we care first and foremost for his own well-being with the intricacies of the case itself becoming secondary. As for DeNiro, obviously many are going to compare his portrayal of Satan to the more bombastic turns of Nicholson in Witches Of Eastwick and Pacino in Devil’s Advocate, but DeNiro beats them both by subtly underplaying every scene he’s in, having just enough presence to cue the viewer into his vast power and what he could be thinking, and creating a character who seems more bemused than anything by the fallacies of the human condition that he preys upon. Eventually Rourke’s investigation takes him down to New Orleans, where voodoo and witchcraft are a common occurance, and stumbles upon Epiphany Proudfoot (Lisa Bonet), a teenage high priestess with a connection to the case. Bonet is both beautiful and enigmatic in the role, and her palpable chemistry with Rourke leads to the film’s most famous (and controversial) element, an all-out no holds barred sex scene between the two that gave the MPAA fits at the time, and unfortunately for Bonet, cast her wholesome image as the daughter on The Cosby Show in such a bad light that Bill Cosby himself publicly objected to his onscreen little girl engaging in raucous movie sex, which may have possibly hurt her career in the long run. Regardless, the terrifying atmosphere of the overall piece is retained even through this scene, along with some subtle gore that’s sure to make the more sensitive audience members twitch. The cinematography does an incredible job at capturing the essence of the hellish locations, whether it be the squalor of New York City and Harlem or the rural, defeated territories of the New Orleans area. Of course, special consideration must be given to the ending, which not only wraps the film up in a neat little package, but contains arguably the greatest final twist in the history of cinema, one which is so profound that anyone viewing the film should be made to sign an oath of secrecy so as not to reveal it to the uninitiated, not to mention so incredibly haunting and scary that there is no doubt that the last two minutes will stay burned into the viewer’s memory forever. Some have argued that watching the film one time makes it pointless for repeat viewings once you know the ending, but much like The Sixth Sense, that is not the case since one can now go back and pick up on every nuance and every exchange as well as their meaning to the overall plot. In the end, a true horror classic, not to be missed, that also serves as a fantastic detective mystery as well…
10/10