Set in 1955, the story follows (Mickey Rourke), a scruffy Brooklyn private eye hired by the elegant and sinister Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro). Cyphre wants Angel to find Johnny Favorite , a famous pre-war crooner who disappeared from a private hospital and owes Cyphre an "unresolved debt". The Descent: From Noir to Nightmare

Every person Harry interviews—from an addicted doctor to a voodoo priestess—is brutally murdered shortly after they speak with him.

As Harry follows the trail from the cold streets of Harlem to the humid, voodoo-drenched bayous of , the movie shifts from a standard detective story into a psychological horror.