Everyone loves a good murder mystery, but the fact is the genre gets a bit repetitive. Practically every one of them is about a dogged sleuth trying to wring the facts out of folks who are desperate to hold onto their secrets, whether they did the deed or not. And all of these stories force the hero to go back and forth, spot-checking monologues until the truth finally emerges and all the skeletons are laid bare.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but somehow Horns manages. Alexandre Aja’s new supernatural genre mashup stars Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter, perhaps you’ve heard of it) as Ignatius, a man accused of murdering his girlfriend. No one believes Ig’s story because he blacked out and can’t remember anything, so the his family, friends, neighbors and the media turn on him and make his life a living Hell. The fact that he starts growing horns on his head only makes the metaphor more apropos.
Related: Daniel Radcliffe on Horns, ‘Horns’ & ‘Sharknado 2’
The horns are more than a cosmetic display of devilment. Now, everyone Ig meets feels compelled to reveal their innermost sins and shames, proudly no less, leading to one unexpected revelation after another. And it doesn’t take long before Ig realizes that what seems like a curse is actually the perfect tool to find out who really killed the lovely young Merrin (Juno Temple), and learn once and for all who is really on his side, and who secretly wishes Ig was out of the picture.
It would make sense if cutting half the legwork out of the detective story robbed Horns of its momentum, but the story – based on a novel by Joe Hill, adapted by Keith Bunin (“In Treatment”) – actually comes across as liberated instead. In the place of repetitious back-and-forths from one suspect to the next, Horns fills its screen time with playful yet sadistic explorations of subconscious desire, and increasingly intriguing, exciting and horrifying dips into a new mythology based on sin and satanic iconography.
Daniel Radcliffe headlines a strong cast of characters, and effectively brushes off his old supernatural persona for a fresh one, filled with anxiety and pissiness. Ig really is ticked off that his true love is dead and that everyone believes he was capable of killing her, and as his new powers grow in scale he finds wicked catharsis in punishing the enemies he thought were friends, and torturing the reporters who dog him at every turn.
Although Radcliffe is good enough to shake his old cinematic persona for a fresh one, it’s easy to see a hint of revenge in his performance. Perhaps his role in Horns only benefits from his experience of being accosted in public on a daily basis. But Horns is more than a star vehicle. It’s a twisted rendition of a familiar sort of tale, cleverly plotted and weirdly conceived. Occasionally shocking and always fun, Horns makes it points and has a devilishly good time doing it.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
