Angel Heart

     ANGEL HEART (1987): Starring- Mickey Rourke, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling, Stocker Fontelieu, Brownie McGhee, Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Whitcraft, Eliott Keener, Dann Florek, and Robert De Niro.

     Directed by- Alan Parker

     Well, have I got an intersting little offering for you today. Alan Parker's ANGEL HEART is an absolutely outstanding film, and one that you may not have heard of. That is an absolute tragedy. I sincerely believe that this is a masterpiece of horror cinema, and of cinema itself. It effectively combines the detective genre with the horror genre, and honestly, it's a damn scary movie! 

     The film begins in 1955, in the office of private detective Harry Angel (Rourke). Angel is contacted by a strange gentleman named Louis Cyphre. (De Niro) Cyphre wants Angel to help him find a former client of his named Johnny Favorite. Favorite was a popular singer who was drafted and injured during World War II, losing his memory. Favorite was checked into a hospital, an utter vegetable. 

     Since then, Cypher has had no contact with Favorite, and wants Angel to investigate to see whether he is still alive or not.

     Angel travles to the hospital and learns from elderly, morphine-addicted Dr. Fowler (Higgins) that Favorite was taken from his hospital bed years ago. Fowler was paid to keep it a secret and he continued to falsify the hospital's records. After speaking with Angel, the doctor is murdered.

     Angel pays a visit to Spider Simpson, a former guitar player in Johnny Favorite's band, and finds that Favorite had a very shady past. Favorite carried on a relationship with a young, southern debutante named Margaret Krusmark (Rampling), while also carrying on with a woman named Evangeline Proudfoot, with whom he had a daughter, Epiphany (Bonet).

     Following this trail, Angel is lead to New Orleans, where this case begins to take on strange undertones of voodoo and satanism. After interviewing Toots Sweet (McGhee), a gutiarist associated with Johnny Favorite, Angel meets with Epiphany, who claims to have no memory of her father, except that her mother claimed that he was purely, absolutely evil.

     After meeting with Margaret Krusmark, Angel begins to have doubts about the case, and these doubt grow when his witnesses begin turning up dead, murdered in exceedingly grusome ways.

     This, however, is where I must end my summary of the movie. If I went any further, I would risk giving away the film's twist ending, and that would be an absolute crime. I'll just say that the ending works perfectly, and unlike some other films with twist endings, this one still holds up during a second viewing.

    This movie is wonderful. Everything works about it. It's truly a tragedy that it isn't more well known.

     The cast is simply magificent, especially Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro. Rourke's gives a performance in this that I think is better than his performance in THE WRESTLER (2008). De Niro is wonderful as Louis Cyphre. Though he has little screen time, he brings a subtle, sinister presence to the role.

     The cinematography by Michael Seresin is fantastic. Everything in the movie just has a sort of seedy, trashy quality to it. This is perfectly complimented by Trevor Jone's score. Both of these factors give the film an eerie, uneasy feel to it, which is exactly what works for it.

     If I had to guess why this movie isn't exactly popular, I suppose it's because the film isn't exactly for every taste, as it is quite grusome and unpleasant at times, and the story isn't uplifting in the slightest.

     Also, the film was quite controversial at the time of its release, due to an incident involving actress Lisa Bonet, who starred as Denise on The Cosby Show at the time. It's rumored that Bonet was forced to leave the show due to Bill Cosby disliking a certain scene in the movie. (Believe me, you'll know which scene I'm talking about when you see it.)

     So, there you have it. I highly recommend this movie if you're not easily disturbed or disgusted by films. Personally, I love it.

     My rating- * * * 1/2  out of  * * * *

Blood of Dracula's Castle

     BLOOD OF DRACULA'S CASTLE (1969): Starring- John Carradine, Paula Raymond, Alxeander D'arcy, Robert Dix, Gene O'Shane, Babara Bishop, Vicki Volante, and Ray Young.

     Directed by- Al Adamson

     Well, I'm not too eager about the movie I'm reviewing today.  Not because I'm scared by it, but because it's one of the silliest, corniest, most cliched horror movies of all time. 

     Really, almost every part of this movie, every scene, every plot point, has been done before. And they've probably been done better. But, let's forget about the plot for a moment, because honestly there are plenty of horror movies with plots lifted from other, better horror movies. But the characters- even the characters are corny and cliched.

     For instance, our main character- Count Dracula, the lord of the dead, the greatest vampire of all time.

     No, not that one.

     Oh, I wish it was that one.

     Okay, I'm exaggerating this a little. After all, It's easy for Dracula to become a cliche, he's one of the most famous literary characters of all time. His story has been adapted hundreds of times.

     So, let's move on to the next character, the Count's evil, twisted, sadistic servant.

     No, not that one.

     No, not that one.

     No, not even that one. Instead, this is what we're stuck with:

     That's right. It's John Carradine (who, I'm assuming fired his agent after this). He's an odd choice to play the servant, considering he actually had played Dracula before. Why not just have him play the part he has experience with?

     Well anyway, let's move on to our next character/cardboard cut-out, the giant, slow-witted, lumbering beast that also works for the Count.

     No, not that one.

     No, not that one. This is the lumbering beast featured in this movie:

     Yikes. Well, there are a few more examples, but I'm beginning to waste space, so I'll get on with the review now.

     The movie begins when young photographer Glen (O'Shane) and his girlfriend, Liz (Bishop) learn that they've inherited a mysterious old castle. (Sounding familiar yet?) They also learn that the castle is still being rented by it's previous tenants.

     The tenants in question are the Count and Countess Dracula (D'arcy and Raymond), who now go by the name Townsend. (I will give the movie credit for at least not using "Alucard") They live in the castle with their elderly, devoted servant, George (Carradine). He is very devoted to the Count and Countess, so much so that he actually tells them "Good night" as the slip into the coffins. Also inhabiting the castle is the lumbering, slow-witted beast, Mango (Young).

     This is the first thing in this movie that had me laughing- Mango?! The monster is named Mango? Really? You couldn't have gone with Mongo? Yeah, I know that's an incredible cliche, but that would fit in perfectly with the rest of the movie. But I suppose Mango can work too. After all, when you think "terrifying and intimidating", it's obvious that the word "Mango" pops into your head immediately.

     Anyway, the two vampires seem to have moved on from their old habits. These days, they have Mango catch their victims, after which George takes blood from them in syringes, serving it to the Count and Countess. Well, that seems kind of lazy! Have these vampires just given up the natural impulses that make them vampires? Well, I suppose they're still a notch above Edward Cullen.

     So, with all this going on, Glen and Liz soon find themselves prisoners of the Count and Countess. For some reason, there's also a young serial killer (Dix) involved in this. I'm not sure why. Maybe the director just decide he needed one more gimmick in this movie.

     So this movie is certainly no classic. The plot is silly and cliched. The characters are silly and cliched. It's all very corny. But, strangely, it almost works. This movie knows itself exactly. It's completely aware of just how silly it's premise is, and it runs with it. Also on hand are some fairly decent performances. While the young leads are pretty terrible, Carradine, D'arcy and Raymond all give good performances. They also seem to get the joke, and they play it off with a sense of humour.

     The movie was directed by shlock king Al Adamson. This man was like the second Ed Wood. He also seemed to be very interested in Dracula, having directed this, DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN (1971), and DOCTOR DRACULA (1978). I'm just going to say that again: This man made a movie called DOCTOR DRACULA. Wow.

     I'd also like to talk about how this movie looks. The version I saw had terrible picture quality, covered in grain and bright lines running across the screen. Normally, this would be a problem, but I actually like it in this case. It gives the movie a certain sleazy charm. I feel like I'm watching an old Super 8. After it was chewed up by a dog. And stepped on several times. And dragged behind a car for thirty-six miles. And- well, you get the point.

    So, all in all, this movie is an enjoyable, if incredibly campy, viewing experience. After all, there's always room for campy movies. You just have to be in the right mood.

     My rating- * *  out of  * * * *