EDITOR’S NOTE: Angel Heart was on USA Up All Night on November 7, 1992 and December, 1994.

Before he became known for his adaptations of The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist, as well as his work on The Walking Dead TV show, Frank Darabont wrote the screenplays to Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and the remake of The Blob. This film was the first he’d ever get the chance to direct.

Originally airing May 9, 1990, on the USA Network, this movie was produced under the title Till Death Do Us Part. It’s a very EC Comics-ish story of Clint Goodman (Tim Matheson, Animal House), a contractor who is very much in love with his wife, Joanna (perennial crush Jennifer Jason Leigh, the daughter of Vic Morrow, who took the name Jason in her stage name as a tribute to family friend Jason Robards). Joanna, however, wants out of Clint’s small hometown, where he’s content to live simply and fish with his best friend Sheriff Sam Eberly (Hoyt Axton, Gremlins).

So she does what any of us would do. She shacks up with CortlanVanan Owen, a doctor who has plenty of tropical fish that he’s able to extract poison from. He’s also the guy who keeps performing abortions for her so that she never has to get stuck with Clint’s child. He’s played by William Atherton, who is the go-to guy when you’re making a movie in the 1980s and need someone to be a complete asshole.

Needless to say, the bad guys are comically evil in this one, and Clint is the nicest guy ever, until he awakens in his own grave and has to claw his way back. From then on, this becomes a revenge picture and a pretty decent one at that.

This is one of those films that has been long out of print and commands high prices on eBay. You can always turn to the gray market and find bootleg copies of it, as well as the sequel. It’s one of Becca’s favorite movies, and we watch it pretty often in our house.