“Horns”: Too Much Information Can Be Deadly (And Hilarious)
This is a film I’ve been waiting to see for a long time folks. Daniel Radcliffe has starred in a few films since the end of the Harry Potter franchise, but none so quirky or, in some instances, brutal. The film has been on Netflix for a little over a month now, but doesn’t seem to be out there as well as I believe it should. Is it a masterpiece? No, but it’s definitely worth a watch regardless.
The film centers on the character Ignatius “Ig” Parrish, Radcliffe’s character, who has been accused of murdering his long-time-girlfriend Merrin after an argument with her at a diner. Iggy is innocent, but everyone in town is wholeheartedly behind letting him burn for it. One morning after a drunken romp with a bar-tender, Iggy wakes up with a set of demonic horns adorning his head.
He quickly discovers that these horns persuade anyone in his presence to candidly and openly admit their darkest and most unsavory thoughts and feelings to him, as well as allow him to, upon skin-to-skin-contact with someone, experience their memories. After discovering that these horns not only can’t be removed, but also afford him some other odd-abilities (such as controlling snakes and commanding people to obey him) he decides to use them to find Mirren’s true killer. Throughout the film he not only inches closer to the truth, but poetically punishes the immoral rabble of his small hometown. Which, culminates into a quite satisfying climax.
I’ll level with you, dear readers, the film starts off a bit slow, and a bit corny at times. The dialog used WITHOUT the supernatural aspects of the film in place in the beginning of the story do tend to come off as a little out of place. However, once the horns have sprouted upon Radcliffe’s dome, this problem seems to dissipate. The characters encountered throughout are interesting in their own right, from Mirren’s father, whose unshakable morality renders him immune to the horns, to Iggy’s parents and brother, all of whom harbor secrets that make Iggy question what his life has really been up to this point. The action in the film is sparse but well-choreographed; fight-scenes are intense and have a real sense of cheeky-humor about them which is a blast to watch.
The real gem of the film however is the comedic undertone. Every person Iggy confronts reveals something completely outlandish and brutal to him, leaving him (at first) confounded as to how someone could even say such a thing. Just to set up a scenario for you: Iggy is sitting in a waiting-room at the doctor’s to ask about his horns, when the women next to him suddenly expresses the wish to leave her screaming daughter in the waiting-room and just drive of to, “Fuck her Golf-Pro again.” Iggy is taken aback, then goes to the receptionist, who says she wants to yell at the mother for raising a bratty, screaming child. Iggy says, “Why not?” leading the receptionist to ask the mother to “…have the fucking decency to take that screaming child out of here.” The child then candidly explains that she, “Hates mommy…” and wants to put matches to her in her sleep to, “…burn her all up.” Fucked right? That’s only the second time he uses the horns, and it DOES get worse. It’s a real treat to watch all these mundane people just spill all of this awful shit on this poor-guy with a real problem on his hands. Better yet, once he can control his powers and use them for his own advantage, he really does take things to another level.
The acting in this movie is pretty good; not great, but good. The film has some familiar-faces here-and-there, such as Juno Temple who co-starred in the indie-comedy “The Brass Teapot” (which has a similar tone to this film and is also on Netflix; worth checking out as well for the record) and David Morse, who played Detective Tritter in “House.” Radcliffe does a great American-accent that blends quite well, as well as gives some pretty chilling moments, coupled with some very touching ones. Tonally and effects-wise, the film looks and feels AMAZING. This movie is all about the experience, and it’s a great one. Biblical-Imagery is a big theme as is that of the Devil, and the almost oil-painting style of the setting is just too attractive to be ignored.
For the downsides, the film doesn’t really establish its own world-rules very well. Sometimes I’d find myself going, “Oh, so he can do THAT now I guess,” as well as a few “plot-twists” that were built up amounting to jack-shit in the long-run. Also, the soundtrack almost tries a little too hard to say, “WE’RE COOL AND LIKE VINTAGE ROCK MUSIC!” When tracks from David Bowie and The Pixies (The “End of ‘Fight Club’ song” you know the one…) pop up it feels a little like the movie is trying too hard in that respect. As a music-buff, it was nice, but it was also kind of jarring; it just didn’t seem to fit the whole time through.
Overall, the film is a good time. I’ll give it a solid B; if you like dark-horror/fantasy (as I do) you’ll probably love this. If you don’t, then you’ll probably get a chuckle out of it. It looks as though this will be on Netflix for quite-the-while, so consider checking it out.
By Seth Bartholdi