Angel Heart (1987) [31 Days of Gore]

Why does black magic, devil-worshiping, and detective noir go together so well? There are few genre mashups I like more than hard-boiled horror. This one reminds me of Jacob’s Ladder, The Ninth Gate, and Lord of Illusions, all three of which draw me back for repeat viewings. If those aren’t your cup of tea, neither is Angel Heart.

Mickey Rourke plays Harry Angel, a morally ambiguous private detective in 1950s New York. He’s just been hired by Louis (Robert De Niro) to track down a missing person by the name of Johnny Favorite. Louis’s motivation is vague at best, but he’s offering Angel five thousand bucks to do it. So even when some of Angel’s leads turn up dead, he needs the money too bad to quit.

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately: What’s the difference between a trope and a cliché, anyway? The simple answer: we like tropes. They’re the elemental building blocks—or perhaps the shorthand—of mood. Like Jacob’s Ladder, Angel Heart is a master of mood, but more than anything it’s a master of imagery. Watch it a second time and those nightmarish images will make a little more sense. Somehow, though, the film becomes even more unsettling with coherence.

Angel Heart is darkly funny at times, too. When his investigation leads him to New Orleans, Angel falls under the scrutiny of a couple of homicide detectives who’re trying to finger him for the murder of a musician who choked to death on his own severed genitalia. Later, they harass Angel for the murder of a woman who, they claim, “Died under similar circumstances.” Angel squints at them before asking, “She choke on her dick, too?”

If the movie breaks down anywhere, it’s in the end when Angel starts piecing together the puzzle. I’m sure it was new territory at the time of its release, but nowadays it’s so old hat you might figure it out by the end of the first reel. Doesn’t matter. Angel Heart is one of the best horror films ever made.