Sweet Angel Mine

I managed (unlike several others) to catch the film from about 5 minutes in. The film summary caught my interest but I felt the first 10 minutes went slowly as the young man rode his motorbike around Nowhere, Nova Scotia.

Once he had met up with the odd family, things began to get interesting.

Some of the scenes were very well set up especially his encounter with Rauchine in the barn where she seemed 'disinterested' in his attentions.

Disturbing in parts, and Rauchine's innocence made me feel a bit squeamish at times. The Grandmother was a bit tedious, immediately evoking the image of Norman's mother in Psycho.

Top marks to Alberta Watson who, as the mother, exhibited menace and allure at the same time. What a tiger!

Only gripe? The scene in the local bar was clumsy and didn't help the story at all. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes.

What a pity it was shown so late on TV. Definitely a film you either love or loathe. I loved it. If you like this kind of film you should also try to see "Tick Tock".

How do I love this movie? Let me count the ways. OK. I'm done counting. I can count the ways I love this movie on fewer than the fingers of one hand. In fact, I wouldn't even need one finger. Not unless I was using my middle finger.

This is the type of movie where you root for the young lover-wannabes to NOT get together at the end. This is the type of movie where you root for the entire cast of characters to die in the end. And speaking of root, this is the type of movie that gives undergoing a root canal a good name. That's what I wish I'd been doing instead of watching this movie---undergoing a root canal.

One really has to wonder how this film got by the Canadian Board of Tourism. Not to mention the Province of Nova Scotia's Chamber of Commerce. That's where it takes place. ("Come visit beautiful Nova Scotia. You, too, can act like an idiot!") The plot? Why bother? When every character in a movie can't get a clue, ESPECIALLY the two young lovers, then any alleged plot becomes meaningless. The best ending for this movie would have been for all of its characters, in one mass group-in, to have thrown themselves into the Atlantic Ocean from atop the rocky Nova Scotian cliffs. And to have taken the director (Curtis Radclyffe) with them! That, finally, would have been the first thing about this movie to make any sense.

"Sweet Angel Mine." Never judge a movie by its title. I did. And because I did, I wasted nearly two hours of my lifetime. That's two lost hours that can never be reclaimed. A root canal, at least, when it's all over, turns out to have been worthwhile time well spent.

Paul is a Londoner in Canada, looking for his Dad (I saw it from about 1/2 hour in). He meets Roisin ("Rasheen" as she's called in the credits), a girl with an extremely unfriendly, possessive mother. Lurking in the background is Roisin's even more evil grandmother.

What develops is a solid mystery as to this house of women, Paul becoming increasingly hostile and frightened of the mother Megan, and him wanting to help Roisin get away and see what life has to offer.

It's all explained quite neatly by the end, helped along by decent acting, a fairly good script, and some really quite horrifying moments. Definite shades of Psycho in this.

This Psychoesque film has a lot to recommend it: #1 Nova Scotia (Makes me want to go there); #2 - engaging characters - even the bad characters are strangely attractive #3 - fearlessness of the main character Paul (his naive self confidence gets him in trouble.) Highlight of the film - Paul's first dream. Worst moment - the pitiful ropes which were restraining him as bad things were about to happen. It was so bad you could see the space between the rope and his wrist (right hand) - I know my 2 1/2 year old grand son, Gus could have easily slipped out of the rope.

I did enjoy the movie - flashbacks in black and white were effective. Mom & Daughter were alluring - Grandma disgusting - no surprise there! Fairly early in the movie you will "get it" even if you are not overly movie savvy. Yet worth the time. DonB

Bizarre, to be sure. Has a look and feel like a low budget 70's exploitation flick.

The acting is actually pretty good, and so is the the cinematography.

The "surprise" is pretty easy to predict.

It's nice to see the great British actress Anna Massey. She deserves to be in better films. Remember her in Hitchcock's "Frenzy?"

Content-wise, this is really a dark and perverse film. No kids allowed.