Dark Angel - A Must Have

Reviewed by Patrick S. Houlehan, 2010-02-25

I love this movie! I agree whole heartedly with every good review that I read here. I just wish someone would re-master this and create a DVD of it.

An Ok to actually good movie to watch.

Reviewed by Kaelan, 2008-08-14

i bought this movie Brand New From Amazon about a year ago for 19.99 and i have to say it was money well spent. it had some weird sequences for example,there were demons in hell that worshiped God. Ive Got To tell the truth that made some parts of the movie not worth watching,but overall it was a good movie. i love the little non release to theater full moon movies.they are actually pretty entertaining to be low budget.i watch this movie ever now and then but its not a regualar for me.its a pretty rare,expinsive movie to be a vhs. now dont get me wrong i would pick VHS's over DVD's any day of the week. well before you do anything rash,go rent this movie first before you buy it.you might like it you might not. its just one of those kinds of movies.

Cool movie!

Reviewed by Melissa B, 2006-01-24

We loved this movie, I only wish Netflix would get it so we could rent it and see it again. Cool story about a beautiful young woman whose parents are supervisors in hell. She becomes curious about what earth is like, so she ascends to see. But then these bad guys gotta pick on her and....heh heh.

Wish they'd do a quality sequel to this, it would be cool!

The Ascent

Reviewed by dittoe, 2004-08-28

A movie using the best special affects at the time thought getting very simple by todays level of technology. There is an underlaying message that good and evil do exist. The main actor is the daughter of evil and she has rebelled from her parents ways, especially her fathers. So she and her beasty(Hellraiser) enters the world of mortal beings where they meet a young doctor. She is kind and gently to those who are good at heart. But quick and ruthless to punish and send straight to hell, those which do wrong unto others. She is really good by vertue and deed but beware all who sin!
A good movie for all to watch.

God-worshipping demons in hell anybody?

Reviewed by Matthew King, 2004-07-18

Dark Angel: The Ascent is about a demonness from hell named Veronica who wishes to explore the world above. Born and raised in hell, she has never experienced the pleasures of life on earth. Against her father's wishes, she makes "The Ascent" to earth and finds herself naked in a dark alleyway. She soon gets hit by a car and finds herself in the hospital to be tended to by a doctor named Max. Max brings Veronica into his home and Veronica, by watching local news on T.V. realizes earth is filled with evildoers. Soon, Veronica goes on a murderous vigilante rampage to rid the city of scum, including the town's crooked mayor.

Another decent release by Full Moon, the studio that put out a plethora of quality straight-to-vid B-movie horror in the 90's. The budget here is limited but it is exactly this that helps lend the film its atmospheric and surreal feeling. Many scenes like those in hell, in dark alleyways, in graveyards are dark and chilling even though they often look too much like a set. It's a bit of a hard film to categorize, starts off with many elements of the fantastic while they're in hell, then switches to a gory horror film and towards the end in the last 1/3 of the film becomes a hokey love story that puts aside its horror elements completely. This is certainly not a film that takes itself seriously and capitalizes on this with an injection of clever humour and intentional puns.

Dark Angel does fall prey to its low-budget trappings eventually though. For one, isn't it odd that the city they're in is obviously Eurpopean in its architecture and style (it's actually filmed in Romania) yet all the actors have American accents? And strangely, the acting is actually decent except that is, for the title character, played by Angela Featherstone. You see, her looks are perfect for the role; shoulder-length red hair, blue eyes, clear skin, and a hypnotic gaze. Whenever she opens her mouth however it becomes absolutely painful. I understand that being from hell and not accustomed to earth she was expected to act robotically to a certain extent but that is not an excuse for her wretched performance in this film. If you want an example of this being well done then look no further than Natasha Henstridge in "Species", Featherstone's performance however is a disaster. I'm surprised she got any other film roles after this. Still recommended overall, it's a flawed film that certainly has many b-movie charms and interesting ideas.