ThiefHott Too much of everything

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

RorschachKovacs In many ways, Angel is quite an understated masterpiece of the film maker's art. To be sure, it's low-budget and as such works with a lot of themes common to exploitation flicks whose primary (and quite often only) purpose is to make a quick and tidy profit. Tell any prospective viewer from B-movie fandom that this movie is about an underage hooker being hunted by a necrophiliac serial killer, and he (or in some cases she) will probably think he (or she) knows what to expect. In the absence of expensive special effects, we can expect to see lots of exposed female flesh and gratuitous sex scenes and the killer knocking off our protagonist's fellow hookers in increasingly gruesome and inventive ways, with only a minimal plot stringing these scenes together to justify calling them a movie, right?Wrong! The true genius of this film is how it defies such expectations. For all the rather titillating advertising on the cover, Angel is neither a slasher flick nor a skin flick. Yes, there's some killing, and yes, a few scenes have some female nudity, including some full-frontal. However, the camera never lingers over the killings longer than necessary, and for all the potentially prurient subjects this movie examines, there are no actual sex scenes. Angel, in fact, seems deliberately designed to swat the viewers' libidos in the very places where other exploitation flicks would tend to pander to them. Considering that it was a 25-year-old (!) Donna Wilkes playing the 15-year-old protagonist Molly "Angel" Stewart, and the other streetwalkers shown were indicated to be at least in their early 20s, Robert Vincent O'Neill certainly was at liberty to throw in a sex scene--or several of them--if he so desired. That he didn't suggests he was deliberately taunting more lecherous viewers by presenting the aforementioned nudity to us at only the most thoroughly unappealing moments. One of this movie's most impressive achievements has to have been making a scene showing half a dozen of Molly's nubile young classmates showering together and prancing around naked in a girls' locker room feel like nothing but an unwelcome distraction from the story.Another impressive achievement is how this movie follows Molly's exciting adventures as a Hollywood hooker without making her occupation seem particularly glamorous. As attractive and sympathetic a protagonist as Molly is, Angel is not some clichéd "hooker with a heart of gold" story. Once again, the scripting seems intended to frustrate lechers, with the camera regularly following a small gang of Prostitutes Who Don't Do Anything; the only times we actually see them plying their trade is when they're about to run into the killer or (in Molly's case) some of his grisly handiwork. The story thereby brings the difference between "excitement" and "enjoyment" into stark relief: yes, turning tricks as a prostitute is rather exciting, in the same sense that being a bank teller during a heist or a soldier on the front lines during a war is exciting. Most of us, however, would rather not experience such excitement firsthand. Molly makes clear in numerous scenes that she knows just how risky prostitution is, the only reason she's in this business at all is to pay her bills, and otherwise she's trying to steer clear of it.While O'Niell and Wilkes each deserve considerable praise for keeping us focused on Molly as a person rather than a sex object, the rest of the cast certainly deserve some acclaim for all having played such colorful characters so effectively while helping keep the story on track. Lieutenant Andrews provides us with a strong moral center to the story and his sometime partner Collins gives the movie a hint of the feel of a buddy cop film. The killer, nameless and voiceless until the very end, manages to be both pathetic and loathsome to behold in every one of his scenes. The only John we ever see with Molly is amply rude and obscene to help kill off any lingering romantic notions we might have had about prostitution, and the disgusting jerk jock Ric Sawyer and his gang make excellent secondary villains for us to love to hate."Mae" the transvestite and Solly the butch landlady provide a bit of comic relief with their bizarre personalities and (dare I say it?) a hint of heterosexual tension between them in several scenes where they argue like an old married couple. (Heterosexuality between a manly woman and a womanly man? It makes a twisted kind of sense, I guess.) Kit Carson and the Yo-Yo man turn in excellent performances as well and serve to remind us that one doesn't have to be a hooker or serial killer to appreciate some of the local color in the Hollywood Boulevard, with the bit parts of a "Jesus Peddler" and some Hare Krishnas helping round out the setting. Even the school guidance counselor Patricia Allen gets a moment in the limelight in a dispute with Solly, and Molly's adorably nerdy classmate Wayne garners a bit of sympathy at the beginning when she lets him down easy from his awkward attempt to ask her out on a date.About the only fault I can find with Angel is that some of the language, particularly from Mae, Solly, Andrews, and Allen, was a lot fouler than it needed to be. Also, while the gratuitous nudity was cleverly made as unappealing as possible as mentioned, cutting it out altogether (as in the edited-for-TV version rumored to exist) could only be an improvement. Ultimately, seeing this movie made clear to me why it did so well at the box office and so poorly with its critics: the general public doesn't watch pornography for a well-written story, and doesn't go looking for pornography in a well-written story. The critics went looking for pornography in a well-written story, and were duly disappointed. Had they been looking for a good story as I was, they would have found Angel a lot more satisfying.

Scott LeBrun "Angel" is a classic of its era, a trash favourite with an effectively exploitative concept, of a 15 year old honour student, Molly Stewart, played by the lovely Donna Wilkes, who walks Hollywood Boulevard at night as a hooker named Angel. She DOES want more out of life, and actually is just doing whatever she can to support herself with her actual parents nowhere in sight. She still has a loving family of sorts, albeit a highly unconventional one made up of colourful characters like drag queen Mae (Dick Shawn), faded cowboy actor Kit Carson (Rory Calhoun), and butch lesbian landlord (the inimitable Susan Tyrrell). She will need to rely on these people when an extremely creepy necrophiliac killer (a pre-'Miami Vice' John Diehl) is butchering Angel's fellow prostitutes. "Angel" may not be exploitative as some fans may wish it to be, but it's still awfully hard to resist, especially with those striking scenes set on the Boulevard and a soundtrack featuring a theme song, "Something Sweet", performed by The Allies. There's a fair amount of comedy, often thanks to Shawn and Tyrrell; however, while Shawn camps it up a bit, he does invest the character with some dignity and appeal even while so outrageously attired. In fact, the movie hits its emotional peaks quite well. The theme of abandonment by parents gives the movie some poignancy and Wilkes really scores in the scenes where she's required to give the exposition / back story, and one can really sympathize with the Angel character. She actually does a pretty convincing job of playing about a decade years younger than she was at the time. Cliff Gorman is likewise engaging as Lt. Andrews, the compassionate detective who develops a concern for Angel's welfare. Calhoun is an absolute hoot, as is Tyrrell. A number of familiar faces appear in other roles big and small: Elaine Giftos ("Gas!", "The Student Nurses") is the kindly school counsellor, John Carpenter regular Peter Jason the jovial john, Steven M. Porter is the street entertainer Yo-Yo Charlie, Gene Ross ("Don't Look in the Basement", "Halloween 4") is the vice cop, and Ross Hagen an urban cowboy. Diehl is memorable as the psycho, uttering not a word until his final scene. Viewers will appreciate the breast shots, although the shower sequence where we see some full frontal nudity is awfully fleeting. Generally agreeable and entertaining, "Angel" moves along very well to its inevitable ending; it would be followed by a few sequels in the years to come. Eight out of 10.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews If anyone is at all unclear, this is an exploitation flick. As such, it goes where Hollywood tends not to dare, and there is bloody and gruesome(if somewhat vague) violence, as well as nudity(though relatively little). There is also plenty of strong language. It speaks to the lowest common denominator, it provokes, and, worth noting, it actually treats a taboo subject without really oversimplifying or downplaying it. I honestly haven't watched enough of the sub-genre to determine if that last bit is common practice, but I can imagine that it isn't. In fact, I have to wonder if this doesn't stand out from the rest of them, since I was frankly surprised that this had as much of a conscience as it did. We follow Molly, an honor student in high school, who is a prostitute at night. The contrast between these aspects of her situation is well-done, and while the concept does require a moderate amount of suspension of disbelief, both "worlds" are treated to a credible portrayal. This has a decent enough plot, and the progression is fine. The pacing is good, this doesn't lose your interest for the 90 minute running time. Humor is somewhat hit and miss. With that said, this never tries too hard to get a laugh. The character gallery is colorful and memorable, including a former double for the cowboy lead for Westerns and shares tales of the stars he met and worked with during his career and a charming and sweet man who makes a living from tips, for performing yo-yo tricks on the street. Acting varies, Wilkes does pretty well, and has you believing in the role. The music isn't bad. I would call this a thriller before an action movie, since there is so not that much of the latter. Don't get me wrong, however, what there is is entertaining enough. I recommend this to anyone who thinks they might enjoy it. 6/10

Dr. Gore *SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*I bought this video for three bucks. You don't know how long I've been staring at the video box cover of "Angel" and wondering when I was going to get around to watching it. The front cover of "Angel" is pure exploitation. It has Angel on the left side of the cover wearing pigtails and holding some schoolbooks. The right side of the front cover has Angel in high heels and a short red skirt. The tag line is "High School Honor Student by day. Hollywood Hooker by night." Classic! This is a film that no sleazy film lover could possibly resist.One thing you can say about the tag line for "Angel": It didn't lie. So Angel is a high school honor student by day and a Hollywood hooker by night. She hangs out with other ladies of the night and tries to earn some money. A mad killer is stalking Hollywood Blvd. and wants to slice and dice some hookers. Angel won't stand for it. She's got a gun that's bigger than she is and she can't wait to use it.Well, I wanted to love this movie but it just wasn't sleazy enough for me. I should have known the video box cover was too good to be true. The main problem with "Angel" is that Angel does not get naked. Does NOT get naked. I found this to be troublesome since she was supposed to be a Hollywood hooker. Not only that, she doesn't have any sex scenes in the entire movie. No sex scenes for a Hollywood hooker movie? She even says at one point, "I've had sex with hundreds of men…" When was that Angel? Was that in a different movie? Why is Angel being so shy?That's the basic problem with "Angel". It's trying to be a real movie when it should have been sticking to being extra sleazy. "Angel" gets pretty emotional for a Hollywood hooker flick. Angel tends to cry a lot about her family life or lack thereof. Not to seem heartless but I don't really want to see Angel weeping uncontrollably. There are a few scenes of gratuitous female nudity at the high school locker room and some decent fight scenes but overall "Angel" was kind of a letdown.Great video box cover. So-so B-flick.