Dark Angel: The Ascent starts in hell where a young Angel named Veronica (Angela Featherstone) has arguments with her brutal father Hellikin (Nicholas Worth) who works in hell as a torturer, Veronica wants to leave hell &after a big argument with her father she does. A portal from hell leads Veronica out of a sewer & into a small town in America, there veronica his hit by a car & is taken to the nearby All Saint's hospital where kind doctor Max Barris (Daniel Markel) falls for her innocent child like ways & offers her a place to stay. Veronica is intrigued by her new surroundings but it's not long before the Angel in her comes out after she realises how much evil there is on Earth, as a punisher of evil back in the pits of hell Veronica reverts to type & brutally kills anyone she thinks is a sinner as both she & Max begin to fall in love but can a human man & a dark Angel from hell ever be happy together?
This Romanian American co-production from Charles Band & his Full Moon Entertainment production company when he actually still bothered making decent horror & sci-fi films was directed by Linda Hassani & is an oddball sort of fantasy horror romance that isn't exactly brilliant but a lot more interesting than a lot of Band's later output. Dark Angel: The Ascent is an odd mix of religious ideas, romance, comedy & horror with a little vigilantism thrown in there too that is memorable if nothing else although by the end of the film it felt like a collection of moments rather than a coherent film. Scenes are set in hell, on Earth & Veronica is this dark Angel who falls in love with a mortal man while dishing out some brutal justice to sinners she meets. The main theme of the film is all about being as good a human being as you can otherwise the wraith of God will punish you in one way or the other, it's a rather heavy handed message & I doubt anyone watching Dark Angel: The Ascent will take any notice anyway but the makers tried I suppose. The romantic side of things are very straight forward, man meets girl & they fall for each other but in typical fantasy style the girl happens to have descended from hell. The horror angle is alright too with scenes set in a fiery burning hell where tongues are cut off & people are tortured for infinity & there are a few decent kills back on Earth as well. While a mixed bag of a film at only 80 odd minutes it moves along at a decent pace, the story maintains interest throughout & the mixing of ideas & genres works quite well although it does get a little fractured towards the end with seemingly random events happening. Of course it's not perfect, the dialogue is very forced & sounds weird, the subplot about the Mayor disappoints & while Veronica is stabbed at one point with no apparent consequences when she gets shot at the end she almost dies so there's not much consistently & most damming of all I just didn't have much fun watching it as it's all a bit matter of fact & preachy.
The film looks alright but it's painfully obvious that this was shot in Romania & not in the US where it's supposedly set, the makers probably used local actors & crew & maybe that's why the dialogue sounds so strange & forced like everyone is speaking in broken English. The film has a dark cold look to it, it's quite stylish without ever being visually amazing. The scenes set in hell are quite good too with a red fiery depiction of hell & the idea that Demons have families & daughters & go home after a hard days torturing sinners to eat their dinner that their wife has cooked them is quite amusing, the whole idea that they have family problems & arguments & rebellious children is also neat but does feel a little out of place & a little bit like a comedy sketch. While in hell Veronica has a pair of bad plastic wings & two horns which magically disappear when she arrives on Earth. There's a bit of gore here, there's a severed hand, a cut off tongue, a ripped out spine, a mutilated body, someone has a large pole pushed through them, throats are slashed & a people are stabbed. There's also a bit of nudity & sex as well.
With a supposed budget of about $350,000 this looks like it had more spent on it actually as it has decent special effects & production values but I suppose Romanian labour is cheap. The acting isn't great, again maybe the Romanian cast being asked to act as Americans & speak in English has something to do with that. Angela Featherstone as veronica is quite good although not brilliant & she looks alright I suppose.
Dark Angel: The Ascent is a film with some good ideas that never really come to fruition, the makers never really develop them so they have proper meaning & while it's different I didn't actually enjoy watching it that much. An oddball horror romantic fantasy with religious overtones that is good but not great.
This Romanian American co-production from Charles Band & his Full Moon Entertainment production company when he actually still bothered making decent horror & sci-fi films was directed by Linda Hassani & is an oddball sort of fantasy horror romance that isn't exactly brilliant but a lot more interesting than a lot of Band's later output. Dark Angel: The Ascent is an odd mix of religious ideas, romance, comedy & horror with a little vigilantism thrown in there too that is memorable if nothing else although by the end of the film it felt like a collection of moments rather than a coherent film. Scenes are set in hell, on Earth & Veronica is this dark Angel who falls in love with a mortal man while dishing out some brutal justice to sinners she meets. The main theme of the film is all about being as good a human being as you can otherwise the wraith of God will punish you in one way or the other, it's a rather heavy handed message & I doubt anyone watching Dark Angel: The Ascent will take any notice anyway but the makers tried I suppose. The romantic side of things are very straight forward, man meets girl & they fall for each other but in typical fantasy style the girl happens to have descended from hell. The horror angle is alright too with scenes set in a fiery burning hell where tongues are cut off & people are tortured for infinity & there are a few decent kills back on Earth as well. While a mixed bag of a film at only 80 odd minutes it moves along at a decent pace, the story maintains interest throughout & the mixing of ideas & genres works quite well although it does get a little fractured towards the end with seemingly random events happening. Of course it's not perfect, the dialogue is very forced & sounds weird, the subplot about the Mayor disappoints & while Veronica is stabbed at one point with no apparent consequences when she gets shot at the end she almost dies so there's not much consistently & most damming of all I just didn't have much fun watching it as it's all a bit matter of fact & preachy.
The film looks alright but it's painfully obvious that this was shot in Romania & not in the US where it's supposedly set, the makers probably used local actors & crew & maybe that's why the dialogue sounds so strange & forced like everyone is speaking in broken English. The film has a dark cold look to it, it's quite stylish without ever being visually amazing. The scenes set in hell are quite good too with a red fiery depiction of hell & the idea that Demons have families & daughters & go home after a hard days torturing sinners to eat their dinner that their wife has cooked them is quite amusing, the whole idea that they have family problems & arguments & rebellious children is also neat but does feel a little out of place & a little bit like a comedy sketch. While in hell Veronica has a pair of bad plastic wings & two horns which magically disappear when she arrives on Earth. There's a bit of gore here, there's a severed hand, a cut off tongue, a ripped out spine, a mutilated body, someone has a large pole pushed through them, throats are slashed & a people are stabbed. There's also a bit of nudity & sex as well.
With a supposed budget of about $350,000 this looks like it had more spent on it actually as it has decent special effects & production values but I suppose Romanian labour is cheap. The acting isn't great, again maybe the Romanian cast being asked to act as Americans & speak in English has something to do with that. Angela Featherstone as veronica is quite good although not brilliant & she looks alright I suppose.
Dark Angel: The Ascent is a film with some good ideas that never really come to fruition, the makers never really develop them so they have proper meaning & while it's different I didn't actually enjoy watching it that much. An oddball horror romantic fantasy with religious overtones that is good but not great.