Angel Reviews

For a film whose ads promised "High School Honor Student by Day, Hollywood Hooker by Night," ANGEL is a surprisingly tame crime melodrama. Wilkes is a 15-year-old student at an exclusive prep school who is determined to survive and improve her station in life. She does this by turning tricks as "Angel" to pay for her tuition. Because a 15-year-old working the mean streets of Hollywood is fair game for any sicko, Angel surrounds herself with a surrogate family of friendly street people. These character vignettes are loosely strung together with a "plot" that follows a young psychopathic killer, Diehl, who picks up hookers and murders them. Although extremely silly and distasteful, ANGEL does manage to insert some interesting ideas into standard exploitation material. The characters are fully developed, and Calhoun, Tyrrell, and especially Shawn turn in some genuinely fine performances.