7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.2 |
In the 1950s Brooklyn a seedy PI is hired by a shady client to track down a singer who reneged on a debt. The investigation takes an unexpected and somber turn.
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling, Stocker FontelieuHorror | 100% |
Psychological thriller | 76% |
Drama | 74% |
Film-Noir | 56% |
Mystery | 30% |
Supernatural | 25% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
English, English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
To paraphrase the late, great Rodney Dangerfield, New Orleans can’t get no respect. Let’s put aside such real life
horrors as Katrina for a moment and just concentrate on its filmic representations. Has there been any other major U.S.
city repeatedly depicted as being Ground Zero for any number of corruptions, degradations and outright moral
decrepitude? From the dysfunctions of such classics as A Streetcar Named Desire to the literal bloodsucking of
Interview With a Vampire, New Orleans seems to be, somehow, the perfect locale for seedy goings on that
often reveal the grimy underbelly lying beneath the shiny quasi-European veneer of The French Quarter. This
predilection is probably nowhere more on display than in Alan Parker’s long lived cult phenomenon, Angel Heart,
a film that melds a film noir ethos onto a supernatural skeleton (literally), with a convoluted plot that may seem
glaringly obvious to contemporary audiences only because its innovations have been so repeatedly ripped off by other
films in the intervening years since Angel Heart’s original release in 1987.
The film’s basic set up is simplicity itself, though a plot précis of a film like this with a couple of major ostensible
twists runs the risk of either revealing too little to inform the reader or too much, thereby spoiling the potential viewer’s
surprise quotient. So I’ll try to tread a middle path and say simply that mid-1950’s era private dick Harry Angel (Mickey
Rourke) is hired by a sort of nefarious gentleman (Robert De Niro) to track down a long since disappeared crooner by
the unlikely name of Johnny Favorite. De Niro’s character (I am not revealing his name for reasons which fans of the film
will understand) claims Favorite owes him something substantial, though the real meaning of that debt doesn’t become
clear until the film’s nightmarish denouement. Angel is set out on a spooky investigation that starts out in New York
City’s Harlem but soon goes down south to the equally dark and dank world of The Big Easy. Angel soon becomes
involved with a sort of Ioruba priestess, played by a nubile Lisa Bonet, as well as a fortune teller essayed by Charlotte
Rampling. Unfortunately, virtually everyone Angel comes in contact with, most of whom have some connection to the
enigmatic Favorite, soon end up dead, often by horrifying means.
Is that the Boogie Man or Robert De Niro? Actually, it's De Niro's body double, according to director Alan Parker.
Wow! Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but I have a distinct recollection of the VHS tape of Angel Heart being a dark and grimy affair, littered with omnipresent grain and virtually no contrast. I did get the Special Edition DVD when it came out, and watched it then, and appreciated the significant image upgrade that that version provided. But nothing really prepared me for the brilliantly clear and clean image of this 1080p/AVC encoded image. At last one can fully understand why Parker sings DP Seresin's praises so highly. Though often very dark and at times purposefully devoid of saturation and with a certain intentional softness which permeates many scenes, this is a film dripping in shades of lugubrious color, from the deep midnight blues which open the film, to the shocking gashes of red which portend the many murders the film contains. The film is purposefully blanched in several segments, but even those offer superior detail and contrast, especially when compared to previous releases of the film. About midway through the film, in a brief interior scene with Rourke, I had to wonder if a different film stock was utilized, as that brief moment was noticeably softer and with more apparent grain than the rest of the film. Otherwise, though, this is a really remarkable upgrade. Scenes of New Orleans streets bristle with detail and you can see for what seems like miles, far into the background of several scenes. Black levels are consistent and contrast is remarkably good, especially considering how purposefully dark a lot of this film is. A lot of the interior scenes have such abundant grain that it may bother some viewers, but I personally found it completely natural looking and in keeping with Parker's vision for the film.
The DTS HD-MA 5.1 mix offers some excellent low frequencies throughout the film which help maintain an aura of menace and dread. The repeated whispers of "Harry" and "Johnny" emanate from the side channels with the sort of subconscious terror that haunts a recurrent nightmare. The bulk of the film is simply dialogue, and that is presented cleanly and crisply through the front channels. Surround channels kick in in a couple of great sequences, notably the "voodoo" ritual, where the chanting and drum beats surround the listener with a cacophony of sounds, the "raining blood" sex scene which made the film so infamous before its release, and in a couple of car chase scenes. Otherwise, this is a remarkably subtle sound mix for a horror film, one which makes something seemingly banal like the sudden burst of chickens cackling a portent of terror. Pine's saxophone offers a reedy, almost vocal underpinning to Trevor Jones' underscore, and it is mixed well throughout the film.
Many of the extras from the previously released Special Edition SD-DVD have been ported over (in SD) to this new Blu-ray:
Angel Heart has the hypnotic power of a dream gone horribly, horribly wrong. Rourke has probably never been better, perfectly understated for almost all of the film, which makes the astounding climax all the more remarkable. De Niro is creepy fun as the client hiring Harry Angel, and Bonet is sexy if nothing else. But this is Parker's show all the way, and with a stellar crew he has crafted one of the great post-Rosemary's Baby horror thrillers, a film which, like Polanski's masterpiece, manages to make seemingly everyday events overflow with menace and dread.
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Collector's Edition
1963
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Extended Director's Cut
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