Greatest Film Scenes
and Moments



Angel Heart (1987)

 



Written by Tim Dirks

Title Screen
Movie Title/Year and Scene Descriptions
Screenshots

Angel Heart (1987)

In Alan Parker's supernatural film noir:

  • the opening sequence in which a dog found a bloody corpse in an alley
  • Brooklyn private detective Harry Angel's (Mickey Rourke) encounters with mysterious satanic client Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro) in a masterfully-acted devilish role, including the diner scene in which Cyphre remarked: "Some religions believe the egg is a symbol for the soul" -- before meaningfully biting into a hard-boiled egg
Egg-Eating Louis Cyphre - Satanic Figure
  • the many brutal murders that Harry discovered after he was hired by Louis Cyphre to find the whereabouts of a missing person, disgraced singer/bandleader Johnny Favourite (nee John Liebling), known as the "guy with the golden tonsils"; the dead included Dr. Fowler (Michael Higgins) - who was shot through the eye (with brain splatter), Margaret Krusemark (Charlotte Rampling) who had her heart cut out, and Margaret's 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 - witnessed participating 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
  • the notorious, originally NC-17 rated 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; [after incestuous sex with the young teenager, Angel killed his own daughter; he had fired his gun into her groin area in the rape-murder; she died wearing his dog tags around her lifeless neck]
  • the twist ending in which missing piano player/singer Johnny Favourite's (aka Johnny Liebling) identity was revealed (Angel was Johnny Favourite himself after kidnapping and taking the place/identity of the original Harry Angel through a satanic ritual) - 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; Harry had been 'guided,' however, 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?"

Dr. Fowler

Margaret Krusemark

Ethan Krusemark

Voodoo Ritual with Chicken blood

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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