Directed by Alan Parker and based on the book Fallen Angel by William Hjortsberg, Angel Heart is a psychological thriller neo-noir that packs horror and supernatural elements. The cast of the film includes Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, and Charlotte Rampling. It begins in the vein of classic noir, where a private eye investigates the mystery of an absconding crooner.

The plot begins in New York City, in 1955. A private eye in New York and a former World War II vet, Harry Angel (Rourke), receives a call from a man named Louis Cyphre (De Niro) for a prospective assignment. Upon meeting Cyphre, Angel learns that Cyphre wants him, Angel, to find the whereabouts of a bar singer named Johnny Favorite. Cyphre claims that Favorite owed him money and then absconded. He tells Angel that Favorite was held at a private hospital, where a doctor aided Favorite to escape by falsifying records.

When Angel visits the hospital and charms the attendant at the reception, she shows him records that seem to imply that Favorite’s doctor, Albert Fowler, did, in fact, falsify his records. Harry tracks down Fowler’s home, breaks in, and confronts him about the alleged falsification of records.

A pressured Fowler ultimately confesses that he did, in fact, falsify Favorite’s records. The doctor claims that a couple, a man and a woman, bribed him to falsify Favorite’s records and took Favorite with them. Harry locks Fowler, who has a morphine addiction, in his own home to uncover more information from him. When he returns, he finds Fowler’s body on the bed, a result of gruesome murder.

Angel attempts to break his contract with Cyphre, but the latter offers him a sum of $5000 to stay on the case. Investigating Favorite’s disappearance further, Angel finds out that Favorite was engaged to a wealthy woman, Margaret (Charlotte Rampling), but was also seeing a black woman on the side. Angel is led to meet an elderly couple at the beach; he learns that the woman Favorite was engaged to had gone South.

Angel arrives in New Orleans, where he meets Margaret, who now makes a living as a psychic. He learns from her that Favorite was involved with a woman named Evangeline Proudfoot. Evangeline, now deceased, is survived by her daughter Epiphany, whom Angel meets. Epiphany is a young single mother who is not forthcoming about her mother’s past. He also encounters another acquaintance of Favorite. More murders, an affair with Epiphany, and disturbing revelations lie in Angel’s future as he uncovers the mystery of Favorite’s disappearance. Satanic cults, Voodoo rituals, and dark revelations inundate the dark plot of this film as it moves to its disturbing end.

Robert De Niro is at his fearsome best and plays his part to perfection as he reveals his true identity towards the end. Mickey Rourke too puts on a great performance as the disheveled, sloppily dressed sleuth, who is the morally ambivalent male protagonist archetype seen in classic noir.

The supernatural elements are blended into the plot at just the right moments to create intrigue and add the fear element to the plot. The cinematography too is excellent as the plot moves from New York City to rural New Orleans and includes quite a few noir-style scenes. The sex scene between Epiphany and Angel created quite a stir in its time.

This is the kind of movie one revisits over and over in his mind to unearth hidden clues. The movie has garnered a cult following in recent years, and for good reason. Christopher Nolan said that this movie was the inspiration for his neo-noir classic, Memento. It is a great, disturbing, violent classic. It is a must for fans of noir and horror.