I don't always like the films of French horror director Alexandre Aja (HIGH TENSION, THE HILLS HAVE EYES remake, MIRRORS) but I like that he's making them and always attempting something different from what he's done before. Going for dark humor (as opposed to silly as he did with PIRANHA 3D) mixed with a bit of a tragic love story, Aja brings us HORNS, the tale of young Ig Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe) who has been in love with Merrin Williams (Juno Temple) since they were children. And on the verge of finally asking for her hand in marriage, she breaks things off with him, and by the next morning she's found dead beneath the tree that was their special place.
Naturally, the police and everyone else suspect Ig, but with no evidence, the police can't arrest him. After days of drinking himself into a stupor every night out of depression and having gone to bed with Merrin's slutty friend (Kelli Garner), Ig awakes to find two small bumps on this forehead that soon grow into horns, which you'd think would indicate that Ig is guilty as sin (we don't know for quite some time whether he committed the murder or not). But the horns aren't just horns, to the point where most people don't even see or acknowledge them. Instead, they have a strange power over everyone, forcing them to tell the truth and reveal their deepest darkest secrets to Ig, whether he wants to hear them or not.
Ig's parents (James Remar and Kathleen Quinlan) admit that they've always considered Ig a fuckup of a son and even assume that he murdered Merrin. Garner's Glenna admits that her low self-esteem makes her agree to sleep with pretty much anyone who seems mildly interested in doing so. Even Ig's doctor is full of perverted secrets that make him incapable of attempting to surgically remove the horns.
Knowing that HORNS is screenwriter Keith Bunin's adaptation of a novel by Joe Hill (Stephen King's talented son), the plot makes a bit more sense, with the horns serving a more metaphorical purpose than anything else. It's as if the characters all recognize that they are in the presence of a hellspawn and that someone makes their ugliest truths spill out in front of him.
The cast is fleshed out with the likes of Joe Anderson as Ig's artist brother, David Morse as Merrin's grieving father, Heather Graham as a local waitress who served the couple their last meal, and Max Minghella as Lee, Ig's oldest and closest friends, serving as his lawyer, but beyond Radcliffe, no one really stands out as exceptional in Horns. In fact, a few (I'm looking at you, Graham) play things so over the top, you almost feel embarrassed for them.
But Radcliffe sells and saves the film from complete downfall. He's believable as both a heartbroken lover, a possible murderer, and a guy who slowly sees the usefulness of people being unable to lie to him. He has a naturalistic quality to his work here that salvages a great deal of every scene he's in.
I should also call attention to the exceptional makeup work done by Greg Nicotero and his KNB EFX team. But beyond that, the way-too-long (a full two hours) HORNS doesn't quite get enough right to fully recommend it, despite it being the closest thing to a traditional Halloween release you'll get this weekend. I hear the original SAW has been re-released this weekend; maybe check that out.
