Horns
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple
Directed by Alexandre Aja
Scary meets satire in Alexandre Aja’s tonally wonky adaptation of Joe Hill’s bestseller Horns. Thankfully, Daniel Radcliffe sheds any semblance of his days at Hogwart’s and churns out a positively gonzo performance as a young man who mysteriously starts sprouting devilish horns from his head.
After the mysterious death of his girlfriend Merrin (Temple), Ig Perrish (Radcliffe) becomes the prime suspect in her murder while also dealing with the pesky horns that inexplicably drive people to admit their darkest secrets and desires whenever they come in contact with him. The narrative device makes for some truly great comedic moments as a doctor’s office receptionist tells a mother what she really thinks of her screaming toddler and two male cops finally profess their forbidden love for each other.
Unfortunately, Aja can’t quite balance the perpetual tonal shifts present throughout the film as it meanders jarringly from dark humour to melodrama and into romantic reminiscence.
As Ig confronts his circle of friends and family to find the real killer, an assortment of varied characters pop up and the talented cast flexes its collective muscle. Max Minghella, Heather Graham and an underused David Morse are solid, but Temple is far too vacant to create a memorable performance and the chemistry between her and Radcliffe in several flashbacks is virtually non-existent.
The final fifteen minutes of Horns becomes a silly, CGI-riddled mess that threatens to derail the whole movie but once things wrap up it’s hard not to be seduced by Radcliffe’s sinister charisma.
