Don't Break A Contract

"Angel Heart" is a spiritual/horror movie in that small class of thought-proving pictures ("Fallen" "The Sixth Sense"} that puts back the human face on scariness. There are no monsters to be frightened when considering the human being has slaughtered more of mankind than any such demon, monster, disease or act of God combined.

Often I have noticed that "Angel Heart" can be distracting to the simple-minded who steer toward Lisa Bonet's micro-breasts or the voodoo rituals of New Orleans without ever once comprehending the plot that involves a man, a contract, and two hours of heated denial.

The thinking person will see the humor in a movie in which the Devil is not only polite but wronged in a contractual dispute. The irony is you nearly root for the Beast of Babylon when taking into account the context of why the Devil can and mostly enjoyably CANNOT do anything until he can get the main character to full realization.

Selling one's soul obviously cannot be an accident. It must be done with full consent. As we see in the picture, taking one's soul too cannot be done until one can recall the contact signed some years ago.

Mickey Rourke is perfect in this role of a down-and-out foul-talking nickel-bag gumshoe who butchers the English language faster and far worse than any voodoo vixen from backwater cajun country. The contrast between his volcanic eruptions and the cool-minded Robert DeNiro as Louis Cypher is startling after fathoming the true meaning behind this mystery.

If you care for a horror picture with a brain and a plot and some after dinner discussions of biblical proportions, rent or buy "Angel Heart." Leave the sunday school lessons behind, "Angel Heart" does more to instruct on biblical principles than any Cecil B. DeMille production of yesteryear. The roads to Heaven and Hell are grey. Keep your mind open and trust what you don't see. Your heavenly odds are sure to increase.