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Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994)
Dante probably didn’t see this one coming. After lifetimes spent torturing bankers and landlords in a hell pit, the dark angel Veronica (Angela Featherstone of The Wedding Singer) wants to take a page from Ariel’s book and “be where the people are.”
Despite the disapproval of her demon father, Veronica ascends to the strange world of man. Ironically, hell has ill-prepared her for how vile and manipulative humans can be; even more ironically, she becomes an avenging angel in a world of street crime and autocracy that feels like an alternate reality (director Linda Hassani filmed in urban Romania, despite her American cast).
Released by Full Moon Features—the B-movie house best known for the Puppet Master franchise—Dark Angel: The Ascent has all the practical effects and off-kilter line deliveries you could want (not to mention Veronica’s loyal German shepherd, Hellraiser). But there’s also a touching thoughtfulness to the film’s juxtaposition of humans and demons.
“Punishment of evil is the highest virtue someone can aspire to,” Veronica declares with breathy, childlike righteousness. In a world where humans couch evil deeds inside layers of irony and strategy, it’s the demon who takes a simpler view of life. Cinemagic, Sept. 1.
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