Post
by miditek » Mon Feb 26, 2007 6:58 pm
Angel Heart- (Robert DeNiro, Mickey Rourke, Lisa Bonet)
Saw it nearly twenty (!) years ago, and we recently blew the dust off of an old VHS home video release.
Not many "horror" movies these days qualify as what I would consider to be even remotely scary. A very complex plot with many unexpected twists and turns regarding private investigator Harold Angel(Rourke) that is hired by an attorney named Winesap for a missing persons case on behalf of an oddly named client, Louis Cyphre (DeNiro).
The trail of the missing person, a singer named Johnny Favorite, who presumably owes a major debt to Mister Cyphre, leads from the streets of New York to the bayou country in Louisiana, with many references to it's voodoo and black magic sub-cultures.
In a short time, the bodies of most of Johnny Favorite's former associates begin to pile up, and Angel goes from being a private investigator to a suspect in multiple murder cases, as he edges ever closer to what may to be a very unsettling truth.
**Spoiler*** do not read past this if you have not seen the movie.
My favorite dialog from the screenplay-
Cyphre> "Alas . . .how terrible is wisdom if it brings no profit to the wise, Johnny."
Angel> "Louis Cyphre, . . .Lucifer! Even your name is a dime store joke."
Cyphre> "Mephistopheles" is such a mouthful in Manhattan, Johnny."
Angel> "Do you think posing as the devil,just because it scared a superstitious old guitar player, and that witch, and that nutty old man, do you think it's going to scare me? It ain't, because I know who I am. You killed them, and you're trying to pin it on me. I know who I am."
-> FF
Angel> "I want to tell Winesap, he knows!"
Cyphre> "He's dead. Nasty accident. Don't worry, no one will mourn one less lawyer. Death is everywhere these days."
Cyphre> "But what gives human life its worth, anyway? Because someone loves it, hates it. The flesh is weak. Only the soul is immortal. And yours belongs to me!"
Angel> "I know who I am."
Cyphre> "That's it Johnny, take a good look! However cleverly you sneak up on the mirror, your reflection always looks you straight in the eye."
Masterfully portrayed by DeNiro, this excerpts above are among the most terrifying lines of dialog I've ever seen in any movie.
Κύριε ἐλέησον