Director: Alexandre Aja
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple, Joe Anderson, Max Minghella, Kelli Garner, David Morse
Certificate: 18
Running Time: 120 minutes
Extras: Behind the scenes, Interview with Daniel Radcliffe, Interview with Director Alexandre Aja
HORNS is an interestingly bonkers adaptation of Joe Hill’s novel of the same name and director Alexandre Aja has created something refreshing original that may not blow the bridges in terms of narrative, it certainly plays with many genres and becomes a ‘tragic comedy horror’ which has a very quirky, entertaining edge alongside a deep truth of love and commitment underneath.
When Iggy (Daniel Radcliffe) is accused of killing his one true love Merrin (Juno Temple), he heads out on a drinking spree as he’s realized no one believes him when he says he’s innocent. Basically, even his families aren’t very convincing in helping him on his quest to clear his name. The morning after various regret, he awakes to find the beginnings of horns literally growing out of his head and as they get bigger, his newly added horns make people confess their truth no matter how crazy or violent it is, ranging from making film crews fight each other for the story – something they’d surely do if there were even less morals than most tabloids have anyway – to people setting their own pub on fire. Along the way, it’s really quite entertaining.
Daniel Radcliffe is innovative and fully commits to the role, there’s obviously still ‘that’ in the past but in both WOMAN IN BLACK and HORNS, I’ve lost his history very quickly and even his American accent, past the initial Irish vibe, smooths out and becomes his character Iggy and nothing less. At his best, he’s confused and angry but at his very best he’s manipulative and energising.
Even though Juno Temple is, via consequence, in a smaller co-starring addition, when she’s on screen she’s captivating once again and adds another notch to her continually impressive performances. There’s also clever casting with Joe Anderson as his brother Terry, who becomes an important part of proceedings alongside the majority of the cast here who revel in both the obscure and continually twisting storyline.
Throughout, the film intelligently balances all it’s bizarre differences and ends with an unexpected emotional twist, which makes it productively effective in the latter third where some fall flat. It also hits with a vividly striking and visual finale, which definitely stick in the mind. HORNS is a challenging book to bring to the movie screen but as a team, they’ve made a solid feature with numerous memorable moments which gives them a perfect springboard for a whole host of talent.
[usr=4] HORNS is available to buy on Blu-ray and DVD from March 16th.
