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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
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- 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
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- 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?"
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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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