Angel Heart
review by Justin Meyers
Rated R
Starring Robert DeNiro, Mickey Rourke
Studio: Live Entertainment (Artisan)
Directed by Alan Parker
Retail Price: 24.98
Features: Theatrical Trailer, Featurette, Production
Notes
Specs: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.0 Dolby
Surround English, English Captions, Chapter Search
It will scare you to your very soul, is the tagline that
means every word of it. Angel Heart is a pretty old movie
that still gives me the creeps. It is about a Private Eye in
the 1950's New York who gets hired by a very eccentric and
unusual priest played by a very different looking Robert
DeNiro. Lou Cipher (DeNiro) hires Harry Angel (Mickey
Rourke) to find a man named Johnny Favorite that he lost
years ago.
This wild goose chase proves difficult for Angel, which
brings him to New Orleans where every person he meets with
turns up dead in a horrid, gruesome way. This doesn't stop
Angel from doing what he was paid to do, find the very
wanted ex-jazz musician. He meets up with a beautiful,
young, voodoo priestess who is the daughter of Favorite.
They soon have probably the most weird and bizarre sex scene
ever on a film to date; most of it was cut out on the
theatrical release.
The end is the most disturbing part on the whole movie,
not to say that the rest of the movie didn't have twists and
turns, it had loads of them...but the ending will leave you
thinking about it for days, it might even give you
nightmares.
The real star besides Mickey Rourke are the locations;
the cinematography in this movie beats every movie I have
ever seen hands down. The beautiful locals and the
old-looking scenery really make this move a film-noir and
really a must see on this DVD for fans of the movie. This
may not be your cup of tea, but it will be an experience
that will make you think and keep you up for days (and
nights).
This new anamorphic widescreen transfer, which is framed
at 1.85:1, is unbelievably sharp and crystal-clear with very
good detail. The colors are very clean without any smear.
The brightness and contrast are awesome giving the image
great depth like you're really there. It gives you the feel
of the 50's with the amazing colors that the director used
on the locals. The cinematography of this movie makes this
probably one of the best transfers on DVD that I have ever
seen.
This 2 channel Dolby Surround soundtrack is very balanced
with good direction and very distinguished dialog. This mix
contains some nice directional effects in the front channels
and the surround is used effectively to intensify the
unsettling moments of this film. When you hear the very
disturbing music creeping up on you as a scene unfolds, it
will keep you on the edge of your seat.
This is pretty good to see; more than 10 years after the
movie was released we still get to see some good extras. We
have got a low quality theatrical trailer which is very good
to see. An 8-minute featurette that tells a lot about what
the cast and the director thought about the movie and some
good tidbits about the making of it. The menus and the
production notes are excellent. I would have loved a
commentary by the director, but that would be wishful
thinking. The extra's section is small but nice to see
anyway.
This DVD is great if you're in the mood to be scared.
 (4/5, NOT included in
final score)
(4/5)
(4/5)
 (1.5/5)
 (3.5/5, NOT an average)
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