Angel Heart, an adaptation of William Hjortsberg’s 1978 novel Falling Angel, is a thriller that explores the abyss of evil inhabiting each one of us, combining elements of horror, Faustian mystery and Chandleresque detective story. The year is 1955. Private eye Harry Angel is asked by mysterious client Louis Cyphre to search New York, then New Orleans for a debtor – a popular jazz singer before the war who hasn’t been seen for 12 years. Every person the detective questions is brutally killed soon thereafter, and the police begin to consider Angel himself the prime suspect. Angel Heart is a film about a man trying to alter his own fate, a lost cause, falling to earth for reasons unknown, but brave and tenacious nevertheless. Of particular note are its dramatic work with colour, varied use of filth to adorn the shot, and playful, even symbolic work with light and shadow. “[Alan] Parker wrote an excellent script and went on to make a memorable film. Casting Robert De Niro as Cyphre was a brilliant touch,” says William Hjortsberg.