Horns movie review

Ig Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe) wakes up one morning to find horns growing out of his forehead. Soon, he discovers that when people look at them, they reveal their deepest, darkest secrets, giving Ig the opportunity to solve his girlfriend's murder, for which he is the prime suspect.

Alexandre Aja is a director that seems to be having fun. Since HIGH TENSION he's been a consistent genre director. With the exception of MIRRORS, his films have been pretty inspired, with his HILLS HAVE EYES remake being way better than it had any right to be, while PIRANHA 3D was probably even better than the Roger Corman cult classic that inspired it.

But, a remake is one thing, while something original is a whole other thing. HORNS is based on the novel by Joe Hill, at it's probably Aja's most ambitious movie to date. While his previous films have been heavy on the splatter, HORNS is a mash-up of several different genres. It has supernatural horror elements, but it's also mixed it with heavy doses of black comedy and most importantly, romance. 

At it's heart, HORNS is a tragic love story, with Juno Temple's Merrin being dead before the opening credits roll. Their relationship unfolds through flashbacks and stories being told by the suspects Ig interrogates with his horns, giving this a hearty tinge of film noir. Mixing and matching genres is a pretty tricky thing to pull off, but Aja seemingly does it with ease. While it runs a shade too long at over two hours, for the most part HORNS is a super-solid horror thriller. In fact, I'd say it comes awfully close to being excellent, were it not for one serious flaw- Daniel Radcliffe.

 Radcliffe is usually a pretty good actor, even when he's not playing Harry Potter. He has two movies at TIFF this year that show that- THE F WORD and KILL YOUR DARLINGS. But in HORNS, he has to play tough and if there's one thing Radcliffe is not, it's tough. Shia LaBeouf was the original choice to play Ig, and while he's hit and miss, he would have been perfect as the scrappy Ig, who's like a little pit-bull (Aaron Paul would have been even better). It's certainly a stretch, with him ditching his UK accent, and playing a guy that's supposed to be a ne'er-do-well, with characters telling him over and over again that his only redeeming feature is his relationship with Merrin. And that's the problem; Radcliffe just seems like way too nice a kid to be playing a “bad boy”.

 The rest of the cast is more ideally suited to their parts. Juno Temple, who often plays eccentric, “weird” characters does well playing the kind, idealized Merrin, although she's so perfect she seems more like an angel than a real person (which I guess is the point). David Morse as her angry, bible-thumping father manages to make a cliché seem relatively three dimensional, while James Remar and Kathleen Quinlan as Ig's parents, each have a memorable scene when confronted by the horns. The two scene-stealers here are Joe Anderson as Ig's drug-addled brother- taking another potentially stale role and giving it nuance- and Max Minghella as Ig's childhood friend turned lawyer, and the one guy his horns don't work on.

 Of course, while HORNS is a mash-up of lots of genres, being an Aja film, you can expect a little splatter, particularly close to the end, with his characteristic, almost funny splashes of ultra-violence. But, given the surprising sweetness of the story, HORNS could have a lot of appeal beyond horror fans, and it should elevate Aja's career, which would be great as he really does have a lot of talent. While I have serious issues with Radcliffe's casting, the movie as a whole is still very entertaining and well-worth checking out.

Movie trailer:

How Daniel Radcliffe Made Harry Potter Disappear

TORONTO — There is no model for Daniel Radcliffe’s career. This is a young man who became instantly famous across the planet when he was 11 years old, and who played the same leading role in eight enormously successful movies that have grossed $7.7 billion dollars in movie theaters worldwide — all before he was 23. Even if Radcliffe never worked another day in his life, no other actor in the history of modern Hollywood has had a professional experience that comes close, and likely never will.

But Radcliffe is far from resting on his laurels. At the Toronto International Film Festival, he is starring in three very different movies in three very different roles, demonstrating an undimmed drive to prove himself both as a leading man and as an actor. (Well, the performances do have at least one thing in common: In all three movies, Radcliffe does get naked.) Here is an assessment of all three films:

Radcliffe plays Wallace, a British medical school drop-out living in Toronto with his single-mother sister and nursing a broken heart. At a party hosted by his old college roommate Allan (Adam Driver, Girls), he meets Chantry (Zoe Kazan, Ruby Sparks), a witty and winsome animator, and their instant verbal banter quickly establishes a major connection. One snag: She has a boyfriend (Rafe Spall, Life of Pi) of five years, who’s a big-deal lawyer with the United Nations, and is a pretty good guy. So Wallace and Chantry become friends instead.

Granted, this is basically a 21st century version of When Harry Met Sally…, but like that ’80s romcom classic — and unlike so many other ungainly romcoms that have followed it — The F Word is refreshingly funny and romantic in all the right proportions, with spot-on direction from Michael Dowse (Goon, It’s All Gone Pete Tong) from a delightful script by Elan Mastai (The Samaritan). Of Radcliffe’s three films at TIFF, this is the most commercial — late Tuesday, CBS Films closed a $2.5 million deal to distribute the film in the U.S. — with the least obvious heavy lifting. But these kinds of light comedy performances are deceptively tricky to pull off, and Radcliffe and Kazan both keep the sparks between them alight and alive throughout the film.

Romantic leading man? Check.

If you have been expecting Radcliffe to make a radical break from Harry Potter, look no further. Based on Joe Hill’s 2010 novel of the same name, Horns chronicles the strange fate of Ig Perrish, a twentysomething layabout in the Pacific Northwest whose life is upended when his whole town believes he brutally murdered his girlfriend Merrin (Juno Temple), making him out to be a figurative devil. And then he becomes a real one, suddenly sporting horns one morning after a bender — horns that cause everyone around him to divulge, and act on, their darkest impulses.

It’s as weird as it sounds. Directed with gothic polish by Alexandre Aja (Piranha 3D, The Hills Have Eyes) from a script by Keith Bunin (HBO’s In Treatment), the film unfolds as a surreal, Miltonesque murder mystery. At first, Ig is horrified by both his horns and the behavior they provoke, but eventually he gives into it, and Radcliffe, sporting a flat American accent, gets to indulge in the kind of wicked, violent behavior he could never contemplate while playing a boy wizard. And to my eyes at least, he pulls it off, never pushing things into trying-too-hard Mileyville. The movie doesn’t quite follow his lead — the whodunit mystery is a bit too obvious, for starters, and its hard-R violence and nudity could propose a tricky marketing challenge for prospective distributors hoping to rope in teenage Potter fans. Then again, “Harry Potter goes really bad” does have an appealing kick to it.

Dark and twisted horror star? Check.

First premiering at the Sundance Film Festival last January (and opening in theaters on Oct. 16), this film announces Radcliffe as a big screen presence who can embody a fully realized character who isn’t Harry Potter — not with movie star charm or genre flick thrills, but with nuanced, humane acting. Kill Your Darlings retells the true, formative story of Beat poet paragon Allen Ginsberg, and the electrifying friendship he strikes up his freshman year at Columbia University with the sexually exuberant Lucian Carr (Dane DeHaan, Chronicle) — the man who introduces Ginsberg to Beat luminaries William Burroughs (Ben Foster) and Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston), and the man with whom Ginsberg falls desperately in love.

It is 1944, however, and this is a love that truly dare not speak its name, so Radcliffe, employing a steady New Jersey accent, can only really convey Ginsberg’s longing for Carr with his wide, intelligent eyes — the sort of wordless acting that Radcliffe himself has said was the weakest part of his performances as Harry Potter. Here, though, working with first-time feature director John Krokidas (who wrote the script with Austin Bunn), Radcliffe does it effortlessly. It also certainly helps that DeHaan’s Carr is quite the object of desire, the sort of intoxicating and infuriating figure many a college freshman have found irresistible. (Or maybe that was just me?)

More to the point, Radcliffe pulls off something I once thought wouldn’t be possible: I never once thought about Harry Potter while I was watching this film.

Talented actor who is far more than his most famous role? Check.

Daniel Radcliffe earned 17 mn pounds last year

“Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe reportedly earned a profit of 17 million pounds from his work last year.

The company that manages his assets, including all Potter-related earnings, is now worth 48 million pounds – up from 31.2 million pounds in 2011, reports thesun.co.uk.

“He’s very savvy with money and is worth far more than many successful actors twice his age. Hollywood has been a big earner for him. But Daniel’s gone further and sunk that capital into shares and property. He’s been the same way throughout his career,” a source said.

Radcliffe was last seen in “The Woman In Black”. His next film will be a thriller titled “Horns”. 

Daniel Radcliffe to play a supernatural murder suspect in Horns

The Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has signed on to the supernatural thriller Horns, based on the novel by Joe Hill and to be directed by Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha 3D). The film will see Radcliffe in a darker role: his character wakes up one day to find himself accused of his girlfriend's rape and murder. On top of that, he has sprouted horns that grant him all kinds of powers. Shooting is scheduled to begin in September.

Daniel Radcliffe to turn to the dark side

Daniel Radcliffe is about to plunge into the dark side again.

Fresh off his horror hit The Woman In Black, Radcliffe will once again do his best to avoid typecasting by playing a suspected murderer and rapist in the movie, Horns.

Radcliffe signed onto the project Friday, the film's co-producers Red Granite and Mandalay Pictures said.

Based on a novel by Joe Hill, Horns follows Ig Perrish (Radcliffe), who not only wakes up with a raging hangover to find out he not only is suspected of murdering his girlfriend, but has a pair of horns growing out of his head. He discovers his new head-gear has the power to make people confess their sins and give-in to their most unspeakable impulses.

Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha 3D) will direct from an adapted screenplay by Keith Bunin (In Treatment).

Riza Aziz, Joey McFarland, Mandalay Pictures President Cathy Schulman and Adam Stone will produce. Joe Hill and Red Granite's Joe Gatta are executive producers.

Principal photography is set to begin this fall. Red Granite Pictures' international sales arm will handle foreign sales for the film.

Daniel Radcliffe Joins Alexandre Aja's 'Horns'

For any Daniel Radcliffe fans concerned about his post-'Harry Potter' career, don't worry, he's going to be just fine. Earlier this year, the actor helped bring the modest, period-based Hammer horror pic "The Woman In Black" to over $120 million worldwide. And while his next effort is the indie Beat drama "Kill Your Darlings," where he takes on the role of Allen Ginsberg, it looks like the actor is hoping to replicate his genre success with another project.

Radcliffe has come on board Alexandre Aja's "Horns." The film, which has been developing for a while and originally had Shia LaBeouf in the lead role, is based on the book by Joe Hill, and boasts an intriguing premise. Penned by Keith Bunin ("In Treatment") the story follows a man accused of raping and murdering his girlfriend, who wakes up one morning to find literal horns growing out of his head. They give him the ability to make people confess their sins, a powerful tool he will use in trying to find out who really committed the crime. Our own Drew Taylor who read the novel called it "a cool-ass book full of wonderful characters and vivid flashbacks that really gets under your skin" so it seems like some great source material. And no matter how you feel about Aja, there's no denying his voice is distinct, and frankly, this might be the most promising project he's been on since "Haute Tension."

Red Granite Pictures -- who are also behind Martin Scorsese's upcoming "The Wolf Of Wall Street" -- are producing the flick, with production to gear up this fall. We can't wait for set pics of horned-up Radcliffe to hit.