Director: Alexandre Aja
Writer: Keith Bunin (Screenplay) Joe Hill (Novel)
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Max Minghella, Joe Anderson, Juno Temple, Kelli Garner, James Remar, Kathleen Quinlan, Heather Graham, David Morse
Plot: In the aftermath of his girlfriend’s mysterious death, a young man awakens to find strange horns sprouting from his temples.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Unique Thriller
Story: Horns starts with narration from Ig (Radcliffe) who sees himself as an outsider in his town, but that doesn’t bother him because he is in love with his girlfriend Merrin (Temple). Merrin gets murdered and the whole town believes Ig killed her. Ig has his only friend Lee Tourneau (Minghella) who is trying to prove his innocence while Ig’s family doesn’t know what to believe. Ig wants to know the truth but only seeks help in the bottom of a bottle booze while becoming very destruction.
With the stress of what is happening continuing Ig starts to grow horns becoming the literal image of the devil which the town has painted him as. Ig tries to find answers that only make his day more confusing as everyone he meets seems to give away their deepest and darkest secrets. We get a flashback of the blossoming romance between Ig and Merrin from childhood sweethearts into where they were before her murder.
Ig goes out using his new ability to look for the answers to Merrin’s murder which leads to him cause chaos through the town. As the story continues we learn what really happened on the final night between Ig and Merrin with them breaking up and we see who the murderer really is.
Horns is one of the few films I have gone into not knowing too much about, so I was prepared for pretty much anything. Learning just before I put the disc in who actually wrote the story did manage to make me a lot more interested Joe Hill son of Stephen King. What we ended up getting was a surprisingly interesting thriller that sways the direction you would expect a King story to go, just when you thought you knew what happening everything was got swept away right in front of you. I would like to point out that I did feel the film lack a depth is potential suspects though. I liked how the story manages to mix the flashbacks into the story to show enough to get us to the next stage of the investigation without giving away all the answers too. I think this was one of the film that really seemed to go under the radar when it was released and is certainly a film to see. (8/10)
Actor Review
Daniel Radcliffe: Ig Perrish is the man who is accused of murdering his girlfriend and becomes the literally image of the devil, ig must try and figure out who really killed her and along the way he learns that his perfect world was nothing like he imagined. Daniel is still trying to shake the Harry Potter name that will be attached to him for his whole career, but he does a good job making himself a good character in this thriller. (8/10)
Max Minghella: Lee Tourneau is Ig’s loyal friend and lawyer who is the only one that will defend Ig from the guilty verdict everyone is expecting him to get. Max is going to end up being given the same marks as most of the supporting cast because his character never gets fully developed to the level which is required. (6/10)
Joe Anderson: Terry Perrish is Ig’s brother who spends his life on drugs and playing music, he does look after Ig but his knows more than he lets on about the murder. Joe, much like Max doesn’t get enough time to develop. (6/10)
Juno Temple: Merrin Williams the victim in this story, we get to see how when she started to want something more things become deadly as we have to figure out who killed her. Juno continues to show she can be a good lead supporting character. (7/10)
Support Cast: Horns has a supporting cast that in mainly the people who are accusing Ig of the crime they all paint the town to be very generic and easily misled.
Director Review: Alexandre Aja – Alexandre wakes a step back from his usual horror films that are usually gore filled to give us this very well made film. (8/10)
Fantasy: Horns enters us into the world where turning into the devil could make people do and say anything. (8/10)
Thriller: Horns does really keep you wondering what really happened and who did kill Merrin. (8/10)
Settings: Horns gives us a real small town setting making us feel like the close community would believe what they are being told. (8/10)
Special Effects: Horns has great special effects for the transformation Ig goes through mixing the practical with the CGI nicely. (8/10)
Suggestion: Horns is one to give a try, I think it shows how a good romantic mystery thriller could go, but I am sure there will be the doubters out there. (Try It)
Best Part: Radcliffe shows how he has left Harry Potter behind.
Worst Part: I felt like it was clear who the killer was early on.
Favourite Quote: Merrin ‘Just love me till the end of my life’.
Believability: No (0/10)
Chances of Tears: No (0/10)
Chances of Sequel: No
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Box Office: $3.3 Million
Runtime: 2 Hours
Tagline: Love hurts like hell
Overall: Horns is a beautifully shot romantic mystery thriller that has a secret around every corner.
Rating
