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Angel Heart (1987)
In Alan Parker's supernatural film noir
set in New Orleans, Louisiana with the tagline - "It
will scare you to your very soul":
- the opening sequence in which a dog found a bloody
corpse in an alley
- in the year 1955, seedy Brooklyn private detective
Harry Angel's (Mickey Rourke) met in Harlem with mysterious satanic
client Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro in a masterfully-acted devilish
role), with long fingernails and a pentagram ring; Cyphre hired Angel
to investigate a missing persons case; shortly later during a NYC
diner scene, Cyphre remarked: "Some
religions believe the egg is a symbol for the soul" -- before
meaningfully biting into a hard-boiled egg, and offering Angel $5,000
for his efforts
Egg-Eating Louis Cyphre - Satanic Figure
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- there were many brutal murders that Harry discovered
after he was hired by Louis Cyphre to find the whereabouts of a
missing person (who owed Cyphre a debt) - disgraced singer/bandleader
and WWII draftee Johnny Favourite (nee John Liebling), known as
the "guy
with the golden tonsils";
he had been neurologically wounded during military action, and
was admitted to a Poughkeepsie Nursing Home, but subsequently was
secretly transferred out in late 1943 with fake documents
- the dead included Dr. Albert
Fowler (Michael Higgins) from the Poughkeepsie facility - who was
shot through the eye (with brain splatter), Johnny's one-time fiancee
Margaret Krusemark (aka Madame Zora) (Charlotte Rampling) who had
her heart cut out, and Margaret's wealthy husband Ethan Krusemark
(Stocker Fontelieu) who was drowned in a large vat of boiling gumbo;
it was revealed later that Harry had killed all of them in an attempt
to keep his own identity as Johnny Favourite a secret - both a
secret from others and a secret from himself
- the scene of illegitimate, half-Creole, teenaged voodoo
practitioner Epiphany Proudfoot (Lisa Bonet in her film debut, who
child-starred as Denise Huxtable in the family TV show The Cosby
Show), the 17 year-old mixed-race daughter of Evangeline (a now-deceased
black voodoo queen), who was fathered by Johnny Favourite; Angel
witnessed her participation in a voodoo ritual in which she was scantily-clad
as she slit a chicken's throat and let the blood drip down her face,
neck and breasts
Incestuous Rape-Murder of Epiphany
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- the notorious, originally NC-17 rated incestuous
sex scene (trimmed for an R-rating) between Harry and Epiphany
as rain leaked through the hotel roof and was transformed into
dripping chicken blood during a rainstorm, while they listened
to the radio playing the sultry tune "Soul on Fire" by
Laverne Baker;
and then Harry 'woke up' and found himself strangling her
- the well-known plot twist - in which Johnny's identity
was revealed; Johnny had sold his soul to
the devil (Lu-cifer) for fame and stardom, but then reneged on
the contracted bargain, hid out, and took the alias of Harry Angel.
Through a satanic black magic ritual, Johnny evaded Satan by stealing
the soul of a soldier in Times Square on New Years' Eve in 1943
- the soul of Harry Angel
- Harry was the murderer of all the people
he discovered dead - all magic and voodoo practitioners who were
involved in Johnny Favourite's cover-up
- the film shockingly concluded with Epiphany bloodied
and dead on the bed (with a gunshot to the groin), with Harry's
military 'dog-tags' (HAROLD ANGEL) around her neck. Harry had killed
his own daughter
- Harry had been 'guided'
by Cyphre to commit the numerous murders: ("All killed by
your own hand. Guided by me naturally. Frankly, you were doomed
from the moment you slit that young boy in half. Johnny - for 12
years, you've been living on borrowed time and another man's memories...The
flesh is weak, Johnny. Only the soul is immortal, and yours
belongs to ME!")
- at the crime scene, one of the detectives carried
Epiphany's toddler son, Harry's grandson, into the bedroom
- the boy had glowing eyes - strongly hinting that the boy was fathered
by 'Lucifer' (during a voodoo ceremony) - and he pointed at Harry
- Harry - who descended down a very lengthy elevator
shaft as the film ended (during the entire credits sequence) - was
convicted of the murder of Epiphany, and doomed to the electric chair
- and afterwards fated to burn in Hell; at the end of his ride, with
the final black screen, one could hear a very faint exchange (in
voice-over): "Harry?"
"Johnny?"
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Dr. Fowler
Margaret Krusemark
Ethan Krusemark
Voodoo Ritual with Chicken blood
Epiphany Dead
Murders Were Guided by Cyphre: "Only the Soul is
Immortal, and Yours Belongs to Me!"
Epiphany's Toddler Son
Harry Convicted and Doomed
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