View source for Dark Angel: The Ascent


{{Infobox film
| name           = Dark Angel: The Ascent
| image          = Dark Angel The Ascent poster.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = Linda Hassani<ref name="visions"/>
| producer       = Oana Paunescu <br /> Vlad Paunescu<ref name="video">{{cite magazine |last1=Krebs |first1=Josef |title=Directory - Highlights - Dark Angel: The Ascent |journal=[[Video (magazine)|Video]] |date=September 1994 |page=72 |url=https://archive.org/details/video-magazine-1994-09/page/n73/mode/2up |publisher=Reese Publishing Company, Inc. |quote=prod. Vlad & Oana Paunescu}}</ref>
| writer         = [[Matthew Bright]]<ref name="visions"/>
| starring       = [[Angela Featherstone]] <br /> [[Daniel Markel]] 
| cinematography = Vivi Dragan Vasile
| music          = [[Fuzzbee Morse]]
| country        = Romania <br /> United States
| studio         = [[Full Moon Features]]
| distributor    = [[Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Video]]
| language       = English
| runtime        = 81 minutes
| released       = {{Film date|1994|8|31|df=yes}}
}}
'''''Dark Angel: The Ascent''''' is a 1994 [[romance film|romantic]] [[supernatural horror film]] directed by Linda Hassani. It was released [[direct-to-video]] by [[Full Moon Features|Full Moon Entertainment]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.silveremulsion.com/2015/10/26/dark-angel-the-ascent-1994/ | title=Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994) | date=26 October 2015 }}</ref>

== Plot ==
Veronica ([[Angela Featherstone]]) is a young [[demon]]ess with a rebellious attitude who dreams of living among human beings on Earth. She is constantly talking out of turn and questioning the ways of the demon resulting in punishment after punishment. Fed up with this, her father, Hellikan ([[Nicholas Worth]]), tries to kill her but her mother, Theresa ([[Charlotte Stewart]]), stops Hellikan and Veronica escapes with her [[hellhound]], Hellraiser.  Her friend, Mary, shows her a secret opening to the Earth above; she passes through the opening and arrives in the middle of a city via the sewers. As she steps onto Earth her demon form sheds and her appearance becomes human. As a result, she is naked. Veronica finds some clothes, but as she is wandering she is hit by a car.

Dr. Max Barris, a doctor at the nearby hospital, witnesses the accident and tends to her wounds.  Despite her odd behavior he soon finds himself getting attached to her. Veronica persuades him to let her stay at his house since she has nowhere else to go. At Max's house she witnesses countless horrors on the news and is saddened by the sinful state of the world and by how evil the local mayor is.

Veronica starts going out at night and witnesses a pair of street muggers attack a woman with clear intent to rape her. She intervenes and kills them, causing the police to start investigating. The woman is sent to the hospital due to nonstop ranting about the final days. Later, Veronica kills two white policemen for needlessly harassing and beating a black civilian. In both murders, Hellraiser eats some of the victims' flesh. She leaves a threatening note to the mayor, after witnessing one of his bigoted speeches earlier in the film, and some of her hospital clothes at the second crime scene. Detectives who are on the case notify the mayor and then go to Max's house to follow the hospital lead. Veronica is home alone and alludes to the fact that the men who were killed were all evil, just like the mayor, causing the detectives to suspect her. At Veronica'a home, her mother is spoken to by a messenger from heaven saying that Veronica was chosen by God to help cleanse the world of sin.

The detectives start tailing Veronica and follow her and Max to a pornographic theatre where she spots them and a nightclub. At the nightclub, an old friend of Max's starts flirting with him but Max rebuffs her. Veronica insults her and after the friend leaves, Veronica follows her to the bathroom with the intent to kill her for coveting. In the bathroom a frightened man hiding with a woman in one of the stalls stabs Veronica with a switchblade, causing her to falter. Max's friend escapes but the senior detective appears at the door. Veronica telepathically shows him the horrors that await sinners for eternity in her home. He becomes incoherent and later tries to take himself off the case.

Max and Veronica leave the nightclub, and Max sews her wound without anesthetic. They have sex and Veronica's true demon form appears. Max accepts her and asks if she is responsible for the recent murders. She admits she is and repeats they were evil people. After Max falls asleep Veronica goes to the mayor's house and shows him the same telepathic message of eternal suffering in hell as before. The mayor screams in agony and as she runs away from the property, one of the mayor's guards shoots her in the back.

Veronica's parents receive another message that she must be taken home to bathe in the river Styx which will heal her. As Veronica arrives at Max's apartment he tells her they need to go to a hospital. The heavenly messenger appears and tells them Veronica needs to go home instead. Although unsure if Veronica will return, Max accepts and Veronica leaves.

A few days later, the mayor is on TV, announcing his resignation, and his intents to spend the rest of his life in a monastery. Later that night, Veronica appears in Max's room in a ball of fire. Upon seeing her, Max says "Thank you God!"

== Cast ==
* [[Angela Featherstone]] as Veronica
* Daniel Markel as Dr. Max Barris
* [[Nicholas Worth]] as Father / Hellikin
* [[Charlotte Stewart]] as Mother / Theresa
* [[Milton James]] as Mayor Wharton
* [[Mike Genovese]] as Detective Harper
* Michael C. Mahon as Detective Greenburg
* Heros as Hellraiser
* [[Constantin Drăgănescu]] as Man in Hell
* Cristina Stoica as Mary
* [[Valentin Teodosiu]] as Hell's Professor
* Marius Stanescu as Fake Prophet
* Constantin Cotimanis as Fake Prophet
* Kehli O'Byrne as Angel

==Reception==
''Visions'' magazine said the film is "a direct-to-video triumph".<ref name="visions">{{cite magazine |last1=Faller |first1=James M. |title=Reviews - Dark Angel: The Ascent |journal=Visions |date=August 1995 |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=58 |url=https://archive.org/details/Visions_v01n01_Aug_1995/page/n57/mode/2up |publisher=Cinefantastique}}</ref> ''[[Starburst (magazine)|Starburst]]'' called the film "cheesy good fun".<ref>{{cite web |title=DARK ANGEL: THE ASCENT [Review] |url=https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/dark-angel-the-ascent-bluray/ |website=[[Starburst (magazine)|Starburst]] |publisher=Starburst Magazine Limited |access-date=2 September 2023 |date=15 October 2016}}</ref> ''[[Fangoria]]'' gave a positive review and said that "Dark Angel is genuinely a lot of fun".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Heller-Nicholas |first1=Alexandra |title=Wild Women With Steak Knives: DARK ANGEL - THE ASCENT |url=https://www.fangoria.com/original/wild-women-with-steak-knives-dark-angel-the-ascent/ |website=[[Fangoria]] |publisher=Fangoria Publishing, LLC |access-date=2 September 2023 |date=17 February 2023}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|0109542}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}

[[Category:1994 films]]
[[Category:1994 direct-to-video films]]
[[Category:1994 horror films]]
[[Category:1994 American films]]
[[Category:1994 English-language films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Matthew Bright]]
[[Category:American exploitation films]]
[[Category:Superhero horror films]]
[[Category:American supernatural horror films]]
[[Category:American vigilante films]]
[[Category:Demons in film]]
[[Category:English-language Romanian films]]
[[Category:Full Moon Features films]]
[[Category:Romanian horror films]]
[[Category:Romanian supernatural horror films]]
[[Category:Superheroine films]]
[[Category:English-language horror films]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures direct-to-video films]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Dark Angel: The Ascent|access_date=2026-03-02}}