Horns
starring Daniel Radcliffe, Max Minghella, Joe Anderson, Juno Temple, Kelli Garner, James Ramar, Kathleen Quinlan, Heather Graham, Sabrina Carpenter and David Morse
screenplay by Keith Bunin
directed by Alexandre Aja
Rating: ♦♦♦◊◊
Horns is a dark fantasy based on the novel of the same name by Joe Hill. Daniel Radcliffe plays Ig Perrish, a local DJ dating Merrin Williams, played by Juno Temple. On the night that Ig intends to propose to her in a local diner Merrin rejects him, followed by a predictable angry parting. In the rain, even. Later Juno is found raped and murdered in the woods. Everyone in the small town is convinced Ig did it. He’s kind of a drunk anyway, so he is an easy target. In his grief Ig wallows in debauchery, so it’s easy to dislike him. In the midst of his tribulations Ig wakes up one morning with horns sprouting from his forehead. The point is that the town is treating him like a devil, so now he gets to look the part, too. But no one else can see his horns. Or, if they do they ignore them as if it’s normal. So long as Ig has the horns he discovers that people around him speak the absolute truth. It’s not that Ig can telepathically understand what they are truly thinking without saying - reading their thoughts. It’s that no one has any reservation about speaking the absolute truth right in front of him. It’s a bit disturbing, really, and Ig is appropriately disturbed at first. But after a time he realizes that he can use this power to clear his name and find the true murderer of his girlfriend. Being a demon is simultaneously a blessing and a curse, an idea that might make one reflect on the nature and circumstance of fallen angels - if one is so inclined. Are they villains or objects of pathetic tragedy?
Daniel Radcliffe looks like body odor.
I have about reached my limit with Daniel Radcliffe’s appearance. Get a shave, man!! It seems that in most of his work since the last Harry Potter film in 2011 he has always appeared most extremely scruffy - dirty, unshaved, unwashed, like an uncontrolled college boy. His acting has not been particularly brilliant, although I’ve been interested in the films he’s been involved with: The Woman in Black, Kill Your Darlings, The F Word (also called What If). I know he’s done Broadway theatre as well, starring in Equus and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Maybe he is deliberately taking on these roles in order to defy type-casing as Harry Potter. Well, okay, good for him. But I’ve had enough of his unkempt hair and scruffy beard. It’s not even a good beard. I mean, if it was good and neatly kept I might think differently. But he looks like Oscar the Grouch. He looks homeless. He looks like he lives in a garbage can. Daniel Radcliffe looks like body odor. Enough already!