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Sweet Angel Mine (1996) More at IMDb Pro »

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Amongst its genre, actually really good., 8 August 2001

Author: tenten76 from London

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.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Disturbing but good, 20 August 2002

Author: Jigerlilly from USA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Sweet Angel Mine is a wonderful movie. While watching I felt as though this (the locking away, murder, and oppression) was something that could happen to anyone anywhere, but was at the same time fascinated and couldn't turn away. It's a good thing, too, because if I had I would have missed a great finish. Although it's not the first tale to feature this plot, the ending takes a twist, explaining everything and creating uniqueness not seen in other films. Kudos to the acting; it was great and with a lower level the movie simply wouldn't have the same effect. The screenplay, while a bit confusing, ultimately relays everything with better clarity and emotion. The psychotic mother and grandmother, the trapped, innocent daughter, and the caring suitor make for one weird relationship that really fits the story. This is a great movie! While I wouldn't recommend it for a dark, stormy night-it is quite chilling-Sweet Angle Mine is definitely more than worth the two hours it takes to watch-on a calmer day.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Top-notch thriller with its own take on 'The Secret Garden', 14 June 1999

Author: Steve Chaloner (black_as_hell@hotmail.com) from Aberystwyth, Wales

I caught this film at the Welsh International Film festival a couple of years ago, and it stood out (decapitated) head and shoulders above anything else. It's a superbly-crafted thriller about a man searching for his missing father, and finding a hell of a lot more in the shape of an isolated matriarchal family in Nova Scotia. The script, acting, use of locations, and most of all the superb atmosphere combine to make this one of the best films I've ever seen. It's a real pity it's not well known, as it certainly beats most of Hollywood's output hands down.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Voyeuristic bordering on chilling., 30 November 2001
Author: Keith Jamison from Belfast

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".

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Great Movie, Should be released on DVD, 14 December 2002
Author: bigo_mega from New Jersey

I think its pretty sad that this movie didnt do so well with the overall audience. The movie had a very short life span on VHS and was quickly taken off the shelves everywhere it had been released (US,canada and UK) I think that Is a shame, Its nearly impossible to find for rent and you cant buy it anywhere it seems, not even ebay. anyway moving on to my thoughts on the movie.... Well, I caught it from around the middle (where the mother gets all crazy on the guy near the water and walks off) so i probably missed alot, but from what i did see It was reall really good. It had a pretty unique storyline in my opinion, wasnt really a horror film like for ex halloween or that stuff, it was a phychodrama thriller, and a damn good one. It was a low budget film but not quite a B film. The quality was good and it had at least 3 fairly well-known actors, and it had minimal unnecicary gore (unlike some crappy films) I would definately buy it if it were available, and itys worth the time that it runs to watch it, I'd like to see rauchine's character (margaret langrick) in some newer movies, but it seems that this was her last one she did. It really is a crying shame this isnt more well known and isnt available anymore, but anyway it is a really good movie and I'd love to see it again all the way.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Very strange but compelling film, 23 August 2001

Author: Paul Redwood from Oxford, England

I caught this film about 30 mins into it. I have to say it captured me right away and I couldn't stop watching. I disagree with some of the comments of people who say it had no plot, clearly they were not watching the film!!! To be honest it had a very disturbing storyline that somehow managed to draw you into the film in a rather uncomfortable way. I would go as far to say as you may have felt unpleasant whilst watching the film due to its disturbing screenplay. Whilst never feeling actually scared it seemed all too believable for me and made me feel somewhat uncomfortable and unsafe, a feeling I do not feel happy with. If the intent of this film was to disturb it did so well and this is a credit to the acting skills of all involved, who made this film seem like sick a documentary rather than a film.

I would not recommend seeing this film as it is rather disturbing and all too real, however I must commend it as a milestone in cinematography.

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2 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
We don't deserve this!, 30 August 2003

Author: Darkfalz

Couldn't really tell what this was about for most of the movie. Was it a B horror flick or a closeted young girl's sexual awakening?

I guess it tried to be a bit of both.

Firstly, the acting all around was pretty awful, maybe with the exception of the mother. For someone who's never seen the outside world or (presumably) been to school, Rauchine was pretty well spoken. This comes down to either bad casting or bad acting. And the young British actor playing the male lead, well I have a theory that producers think Americans can't detect really bad acting if the actor has an English accent. Too bad it sticks out like a sore thumb to the rest of the world. The scrawny weakling trying to play tough was pretty funny, and then the cry-baby "please I don't deserve thiiiss" sequences had me in stitches. And it was pretty obvious to everyone that this "harmless" and "nice" Englishman was only out to get into the young girls pants from the start.

Now we come to the plot. I give the film some credit in that it managed to explain things somewhat towards the end, but it was pretty confusing leading up to that. The grandmother was supposed to be a ghost, and since the mother was the only one who could see her that seemed semi-obvious, except that she was opening doors, closets and chests and constantly grabbing the mother. Ghosts can't, er, do that stuff. And one scene which was hilarious was the young man trying to explain how he's a counseller to stop people doing things that are bad for them, and what addiction was, all while ostentatiously smoking a cigarette. He didn't smoke one in the entire rest of the film.

Pure class.

We got some nice gore at the end but it wasn't really very thrilling or satisfying after the boring, mostly pointless lead in. And putting a graphic throat slashing during a sex scene is a pretty good way to gross people out. Also of note were the sweeping helicopter shots of the forest stuck in randomly at the end, making us think there was some kind of ghost or presence after them. There wasn't, so they made no sense and seem to have been put in there as an afterthought in the hopes they'd make the film look more "artsy".

Nice try.

Cheap, tacky and pointless movie - but I suppose they have their place. It seems this killed Margaret Langrick's career as it was the last film she made.

4/10

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2 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Unpleasant and slow as a snail, 27 June 2001
Author: dpemlin from CA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Despite some stylish direction, this is a pretty dreadful "thriller" about a possessive mom, her innocent daughter, and the young man who invades their lives and uncovers their dark family secrets. If you've seen "Psycho", you should be able to foresee this film's "shocking" plot twist about an hour before it's revealed. There's some really lame plot contrivances and the characters have to do some pretty stupid things in order for this story to reach its ludicrous finale. While the movie does have a few gory "shocks" at the end, it moves at a snail's pace and tells a story that is all too familiar and none too compelling.

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2 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
A sweet title for a not-so-sweet movie., 5 August 2001

Author: tommythek from Bolingbrook, Illinois

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.

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