Angel Heart(1987)
1987 · Alan Parker · 113 min
A down-and-out Brooklyn detective is hired to track down a singer on an odyssey that will take him through the desperate streets of Harlem, the smoke-filled jazz clubs of New Orleans, and the swamps of Louisiana and its seedy underworld of voodoo.
Horror · Mystery
7.11.8k votes
TMDB score
4/5
Intensity
3/5
Gore
4/5
Stays with you
How scary is Angel Heart?
There's a heavy, sweaty dread that builds the whole way through, like something is wrong just under the surface of every scene. The pace is slow and moody, following a detective case that keeps sinking deeper into strange, uneasy territory rather than jumping out at you. It mixes old-school detective mystery with occult horror, and the horror creeps in through unsettling visions and a growing sense of doom rather than shocks or scares. This is one for people who like their horror slow, sad, and disturbing rather than fun, and who don't mind a story that leaves them a little shaken after.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, Angel Heart rates psychological 5/5, visceral 3/5, gore 3/5, lingering effect 4/5, and overall intensity 4/5.
- Psychological: 5 of 5
- Visceral: 3 of 5
- Gore: 3 of 5
- Lingering: 4 of 5
- Intensity: 4 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 12 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 12 of 100 — leans Supernatural
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 85 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A slow-burn detective mystery that keeps tightening its grip, sliding from moody unease into a nightmarish, unrelenting final stretch.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5.
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