Horns

Dir: Alexandre Aja

2013

***

Without wanting to take anything away from Alexandre Aja, his 2013 film Horns is a little like a cross between a Guillermo del Toro and Tim Burton film. That is, it's a beautifully creative fantasy horror with a uniquely suburban quirkiness to it. It is all Alexandre Aja though and it's a brilliant idea. Will strong biblical (Old Testament) overtones, the story follows a young man who goes through the same transition than that of a fallen angel. This isn't shown through subtle symbolism or metaphor either, our protagonist grows really Satan-like horns when he falls from grace. Daniel Radcliffe is the horn-growing protagonist in question, playing a heart-broken young man accused of murdering the love of his life. When everyone in his small time, including his friends and family, suspect him of being the killer of his girlfriend (played by Juno Temple), he starts to become the devil people think he is. With the growth of two giant horns also comes the ability to extract people's dark thoughts, the townsfolk almost falling over themselves to tell him of their sordid wants, needs and intentions. It's a deliciously dark contemporary fantasy that quickly turns into something of a thrilling whodunit murder mystery. I guessed whodunit rather quickly to be honest but I certainly didn't guess the conclusion. It's a rare example of a film relying on flashbacks to better the overall film and it also puts an end to the idea that a film can have too many twists and turns without losing the audiences interest. I was entertained throughout and thought it was brilliantly constructed. However, I just don't think Daniel Radcliffe was right for the part. I can see why he went for the role, his further pursuit against type-casting and Aja casting one of the sought after, most successful young actors of a generation, he just can't act very well. Many disagree, I would wager those people probably like the Harry Potter films a little more than I do but in my opinion he plays every role the same way and is never convincing. They even had to make his character smoke, to show just how bad he had become. I believe such cheap tricks are beyond a director such as Aja, who made one of the best horror films of the 00s (Haute Tension AKA High Tension, Switchblade Romance) and cut his teeth on cheap remakes such as Piranha 3D and The Hills Have Eyes before gaining a little more respect and independence and writing and producing the creepy as hell Maniac. The truth is that Horns is a four star film and only a couple of changes away from being a modern classic, it's just Radcliffe who lets it down and lets it down massively. Worst of all is that I think this is Radcliffe's best performance to date, I don't dislike him either, I just think he's being cast in all the wrong roles. Still, Horn's is brilliantly unique and is destined for cult status, I'm sure of it. I wonder if it is in Juno Temple’s contract that she has to take her clothes off at least once in every film she stars in? I wonder what her father thinks of it?