Angel Heart · reception & legacy
1987 · Alan Parker
How Angel Heart has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
Released under a cloud in 1987 — a notorious MPAA ratings battle and Lisa Bonet tabloid frenzy overshadowed mixed reviews and soft box office — it's since been reappraised as one of the great neo-noir/horror hybrids of the decade.
What's debated
The perennial fight is over the ending: half of film twitter insists the reveal is guessable from the first act, the other half says the dread of watching it arrive is the whole point.
Its footprint
De Niro's egg scene — slowly peeled, delivered with a purr about the soul — is one of the most referenced monologues in 80s cinema, and the character's punning name has become shorthand for hiding-in-plain-sight villainy.
Where it stands
A confirmed cult object and neo-noir list staple — the film people hand you when you say you've exhausted the classic detective canon.