Angel Heart Had Some of the Best Editing in a Movie. (Contains Spoilers)

*Contains Spoilers*

The Following is an essay I wrote four years ago in college:

The 1987 Alan Parker film, Angel Heart tells the story of a detective supposedly named “Harold Angel” searching for a murderer named “Johnny Favorite” who sold his soul to Satan. Unbeknown to the detective, he is actually searching for himself the whole time, and Harold Angel is the name of the guy he sacrificed to Satan. It is also revealed throughout the film that Louis Cypher, the man who hired Johnny to search for “Mr. Favorite” is actually the devil himself. He has been toying around with Johnny and his amnesia, making him unconsciously murder people while sending him on a chase for himself. This ironic plot point of a detective hunting down himself makes up the main theme of the film. The way that the filmmakers establish this theme is through the film’s editing and its soundtrack. It uses different editing styles like thematic montage and classical cutting as well as the use of light motifs and music cues in terms of sound.

In terms of editing, Angel Heart doesn’t simply rely on classical cutting or thematic montage alone. Instead, the film uses both types of editing to present the theme in the course of the plot. Whether it’s classical editing’s continuity between cuts or thematic montage’s lack of continuity, the film’s theme is still heavily implied through both editing styles.

A great example of this takes place during Johnny’s first meeting with Louis Cypher. The scene starts out with a simple medium shot of Johnny talking to Louis. However, as soon as Louis brings up Johnny, the scene cuts from Louis to a much tighter shot of Johnny talking to him. As Louis gives more details on Johnny and his past, the camera mainly stays on the same shot of Johnny. This sudden change in the tightness of the frame gives a subtle hint that Johnny, who at this point in the film thinks his name is “Harold Angel,” is the man Louis is talking about.

Mickey Rourke as Johnny

In addition to this scene, the scene where Johnny discovers Margret’s disembodied heart includes a rather clever use of classical cutting. Outside of the house where Johnny murdered Margret in another one of Louis’ inflicted blackouts, children are shown tap dancing. After Johnny first discovers Margret’s corpse, he searches around the room for clues as to who murdered her. As he looks around the room, the scene constantly cuts to one kid tap dancing outside the house. The tap dancing sort of acts as a ticking clock, as the film cuts to it more often as Johnny gets closer to the heart. Once Johnny discovers the heart, the film once again cuts to the child, who has finished his dance. The child finishing the dance signifies the heart being discovered and Johnny getting closer to finding out he, himself is the culprit.

Thematic montage is also used to present the theme throughout the story. One scene where this type of editing is put into use is the scene where Johnny sees his reflection, reminding him of how he stole Harold Angel’s identity and soul. This in turn reminds him of how he killed Harold and sacrificed him to Satan. To signify this, the film flashes back to Harold’s kidnapping by Johnny and the outside of the building where he was murdered. Moreover, it also flashes forward to the ending scene where Johnny is sent on an elevator to hell. Since thematic montage shows no regard towards continuity, flashbacks and flash-forwards are permitted.

Later in the film, the blood-drenched sex scene between Johnny and his daughter Epiphany is another thematic montage worth noting. Before Johnny has sex with Epiphany, he places a bowl on the floor to catch the rain leaking through the roof. This bowl is the exact same type of porcelain bowl that was used to clean the blood off the walls after Harold’s murder. As the water from the roof drips into the bowl, it suddenly turns into blood, signifying another montage inside Johnny’s head. Even more detail from Harold’s murder is shown, including the blood spatter onto the wall and Margret scrubbing the blood off the walls using a brush and the same bowl. Once again, it also flashes forward to the elevator at an even lower position than it was in the last montage, signifying that Johnny is getting even closer to the revelation that he is the one he’s looking for.

Robert De Niro as Louis Cypher

The use of light motifs is another thing worth noting about the film. Throughout the movie, the song “I Cried for You” is played whenever Johnny finds out more about his forgotten past. However, only one specific part of the song is really showcased. This is the part of the song that goes: “I cried for you darling, now it’s your turn to cry over me.” This specific line symbolizes how Johnny took Harold’s soul, but in the end, Satan will have Johnny’s soul. This song is first played is right after Louis tells Johnny to “find Johnny,” and is last played when Johnny realizes who he and Louis really are.

In addition to this light motif, the film uses specific sound effects to emphasize Johnny getting closer to finding out who he truly is. One of these sound effects is a scream, which is played when Johnny discovers both Margert’s heart and Margert’s father burned to death in a pot of gumbo. Both of these are shocking pieces of physical evidence that Johnny committed both murders in trances caused by Louis. Also, the suspenseful music cue containing the sound of water dripping in a pan is played while Johnny is remembering his past rather than when he sees concrete evidence. This sound is played when Johnny gets to New Orleans and finds Margret, when he reminisces during intercourse with his daughter, and when he drives to the house where he finally finds out the truth about him and his satanic deeds. Clearly, this ominous but heart-pounding sound is meant to create suspense for the inevitable, and it certainly is a fine way to do so.

Overall, the editing done in this film really makes a truly incredible film even better. Not only was the acting, writing, and directing flawless, but the editing makes it even more recommendable. Out of all horror films, this is by far the greatest I have seen; it manages to be frightening and intelligent at the same time, something modern horror films struggle to be.