{"id":2872,"date":"2007-03-30T16:53:01","date_gmt":"2007-03-30T23:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2872"},"modified":"2021-01-07T15:53:17","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T22:53:17","slug":"angel-1984","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2872","title":{"rendered":"Angel (1984)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;You&#8217;re young, attractive, and healthy &#8212; and swimming in a toilet bowl!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Poster-1-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Poster-1-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-62108\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Poster-1-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Poster-1-687x1024.jpg 687w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Poster-1-86x128.jpg 86w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Poster-1-768x1146.jpg 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Poster-1-1030x1536.jpg 1030w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Poster-1-1373x2048.jpg 1373w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Poster-1-181x270.jpg 181w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Poster-1-scaled.jpg 1716w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Abandoned by her mother, a 15-year-old (Donna Wilkes) is an honor student by day, and a Hollywood hooker (&#8220;Angel&#8221;) by night. When Angel witnesses one of her friends being murdered by a necrophilic serial killer (John Diehl), she gains protection from a detective (Cliff Gorman) who tries to convince her to get off the streets.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Detectives and Private Eyes<\/li>\n<li>Mistaken Identities<\/li>\n<li>Prostitution<\/li>\n<li>Serial Killers<\/li>\n<li>Survival<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThis infamous teenage exploitation flick by New World Cinema is much tamer than its well-publicized tagline &#8212; &#8220;High School Honor Student By Day, Hollywood Hooker By Night&#8221; &#8212; would suggest. As noted by Peary and others (see links below), Wilkes never takes her clothes off, and thus her work is implied rather than shown. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Makeup.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Makeup-1024x543.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"339\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-62112\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Makeup-1024x543.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Makeup-300x159.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Makeup-128x68.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Makeup-768x407.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Makeup-1536x814.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Makeup-510x270.png 510w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Makeup.png 1825w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If it wasn&#8217;t for a deranged serial killer on the loose, it seems that Angel wouldn&#8217;t be in trouble at all &#8212; indeed, she&#8217;s surrounded by countless paternal figures, who we&#8217;re sure will keep her from lasting harm. Wilkes is okay here, but most enjoyable are the supporting performances by her &#8220;offbeat&#8221; friends &#8212; including Dick Shawn as a transvestite hooker (with a heart of gold, naturally), and Susan Tyrrell as her crotchety landlady. <em>Angel<\/em>&#8216;s plot bears some similarity to <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1013\"><em>The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane<\/em> (1978)<\/a>: like Jodie Foster&#8217;s Rynn, Molly\/Angel is dead set against anyone finding out that she&#8217;s surviving on her own. Three sequels followed this phenomenal money-maker: <em>Avenging Angel<\/em> (1985), <em>Angel III: The Final Chapter<\/em> (1988), and <em>Angel 4: Undercover<\/em> (1993).  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Susan Tyrrell as Angel&#8217;s foul-mouthed lesbian landlady<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Tyrrell.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Tyrrell-1024x553.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"346\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-62110\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Tyrrell-1024x553.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Tyrrell-300x162.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Tyrrell-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Tyrrell-768x415.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Tyrrell-1536x830.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Tyrrell-500x270.png 500w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Tyrrell.png 1815w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Dick Shawn as Angel&#8217;s transvestite-hooker friend<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Shawn.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Shawn-1024x553.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"346\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-62111\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Shawn-1024x553.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Shawn-300x162.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Shawn-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Shawn-768x415.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Shawn-1536x829.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Shawn-500x270.png 500w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Angel-Shawn.png 1825w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but it&#8217;s worth a look simply for its infamous place in the history of exploitation cinema. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0086896\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1984\/01\/13\/movies\/film-angel-in-school-and-outside-the-law.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/77964.html\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moria.co.nz\/horror\/angel.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re young, attractive, and healthy &#8212; and swimming in a toilet bowl!&#8221; Abandoned by her mother, a 15-year-old (Donna Wilkes) is an honor student by day, and a Hollywood hooker (&#8220;Angel&#8221;) by night. When Angel witnesses one of her friends being murdered by a necrophilic serial killer (John Diehl), she gains protection from a detective (Cliff Gorman) who tries to convince her to get off the streets. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Detectives and Private Eyes Mistaken Identities Prostitution Serial&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2872\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2872"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62113,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2872\/revisions\/62113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}