Ig Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe) has been having a rough couple of days. First Merrin (Juno Temple), the love of his life, breaks his heart, leaving him stunned. Merrin is raped and murdered that same night, and Ig is the primary and only suspect in the case. The court of public opinion immediately finds him guilty, and Ig finds himself harassed and hated by every other resident of his small Washington town. News groups stalk him everywhere he goes, the lab containing exonerating evidence is burned down, and even Ig’s parents seem unable to fully accept their son’s innocence. Life has gone to Hell.
So when Ig wakes up from a blackout bender with two horns protruding out of his skull, it’s only fitting.
Adapted from Joe Hill’s 2010 novel, Horns follows Ig as he struggles to understand the sudden appearance of the horns, and the strange powers which he begins to manifest. People who come into contact with the horns confess their most wicked secrets and declare their darkest desires, begging Ig to let them fulfill their black-hearted needs. Touching people allows Ig to experience their worst sins, giving him an extra edge in tracking down Merrin’s real killer.
Also he can talk to snakes.
There is a very good chance that you will hate Horns if and when you see it. The film is trying to accomplish so much, juggle so many tones, that many will find themselves completely off-board with the ride before even discussing the actual execution. Director Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes remake, the Piranha remake, Jack Bauer Fighting Mirrors) tries to blend dark fantasy-horror with pitch black comedy, romance, a coming of age story, and murder-mystery, all wrapped up in an inquisition into the nature of evil, love, and forgiveness.
Of those genres and subgenres, it’s the murder-mystery that works the least, a problem as it’s a major focus of much of the film. Hill’s novel revealed the true killer almost immediately with little fanfare, while the film decides to hold the reveal until close to the third act. That leaves much of the middle section of the movie slack, spinning Ig’s wheels until it is time to get to the big confrontation.
(The shift also effectively neuters the nature of the sociopathic villain. Despite a strong performance by a good actor, the Big Bad remains something of a blank by film’s end.)
Picking up the script’s slack is a great cast, loaded with performers who are game to try anything Aja throws at them. Kathleen Quinlan and James Remar show up as Ig’s parents, the two people whose horns-induced revelations sting the most. David Morse brings real weight to the proceedings as Merrin’s grief-stricken father, while Heather Graham goes in the exact opposite direction for her small role, playing the wacky at full-blast. Joe Anderson and Max Minghella play Ig’s brother and best friend, respectively, and both do nice work playing the shifts in tone as the narrative progresses.
The whole movie comes back to Radcliffe, and it’s great to see the Boy Who Lived continue to come into his own as an adult actor. Radcliffe attacks the role with no ego or shame, giving himself completely over to the wildest make-up effects and bloody gags. When Ig turns from baffled everyman to vicious avenger, he goes to some dark and upsetting places, and Radcliffe doesn’t flinch. He actively dares the audience to turn on Ig, but never lets you lose sight of the pain and loss that is driving him to such terrible ends.
As with Woman in Black, Radcliffe’s strongest moments are the silent ones, the places where Aja brings the camera in tight on his face and lets the audience see emotion wash over the character. The most wrenching sequence in Horns is a simple close-up on Radcliffe as he reads a letter, despair and relief breaking over him like waves. It’s great stuff, and it suggests that Radcliffe will have no problems as he continues to develop as a performer.
Everyone is giving it their all in front of the camera, and Aja seems hellbent on matching them. Where many horror filmmakers seem content to desaturate the shit out of a film’s color and pile on the blue and green filters, whipping the camera through frantic cuts in a desperate attempt to communicate intensity, Aja is a genuine craftsman. Cinematographer Frederick Elmes (this motherfucker shot Blue Velvet!) soaks the film in an almost Technicolor glow, with greens and reds popping off the frame, and rich dark colors countering them as the film progresses.
Horns could not have been an expensive film, but Aja and his team know how to stretch a dollar, and the blend of live action and CGI is seamless in places. The best thing I can say about the various gags and mutilations is that there are several places where I didn’t know if I was seeing a practical effect or a digital one. Aja doesn’t pile on the grue and gore the way he’s done in other films, but that doesn’t mean Horns skimps on the red stuff. Aja is still willing to push for the extreme, and his considerable restraint throughout the movie makes the splurges of violence stand out all the more.
I wish Horns’ script was a little lighter on its feet, a little more consistent in how it veered from one tone to the next. The movie feels overlong and messy, with the rules that govern how the horns appeared and how they work being too unclear for some of the grand gestures in the last act to really stick.
But Horns works. It’s funny when it wants to be, emotionally affecting when it needs to be, and maintains a creepy and off-kilter tone throughout. Aja misses out on the novel’s thematic complexity, but he gets what made it a thrilling pageturner, and Horns the film is freaky and fun for the entire run time.
Again, I fully expect a number of you to come away from the film angry at it. But in a genre that too often falls into rote repetition, Horns finds a group of talented artists really trying for something strange and unique, succeeding far more often than not. It’s a wicked trip through Hell and back, and I can’t wait to take it again.
Horns is available on VOD and iTunes, and will be expanding theatrically on Halloween.
