If you don’t wanna read this whole review, I’ll give you the short of the long of it. The film is fantastic and I hope that it gets to reach a wider audience so that every one gets to see this film. For the rest of you who want me to go off on a mini-diatribe, well check it out after the jump.
I’ve been a fan of Alexandre Aja’s work ever since I first saw High Tension. The ending completely mind scrambled me and it 
featured my favorite song by Muse, Newborn. From there, he’s continued to create fantastic work of horror and suspense and set himself apart from a ton of other filmmakers who try to do the same thing. The reason for this, with the exception of Piranha 3D, is because you actually CARE about the people going through the experiences.
I feel myself connecting to the characters in an Aja film and I would say that Horns does this with an exceptional flourish. The film is centered around Ig Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe) who is the top suspect in a murder case involving his girlfriend, Merrin, played by Juno Temple. Ig ends up going on a drunken bender and wakes up with a pair of horns on his head that grant him the power to tell people what to do and have them divulge their deepest secrets. He then uses this power to find out who Merrin’s killer really is.
The film at it’s core is a love story between Ig and Merrin. You learn about their relationship from the first time they met, 
until her tragic end. As the story begins to weave itself around, you become more entangled with the characters lives and understand why their relationship is so important to the people around them. The death of Merrin takes it’s toll on everyone you meet and oftentimes you don’t quite know if Ig is innocent or not. The horns become a character of their own and makes the movie play out with some hilarious and brutal scenes as Ig uses their power to track the killer down.
One of my favorite things about this film is that Aja grew as a director. I’ve always connected with his characters, but this was very different for him. It was hilarious, heartbreaking, fantastical, and very powerful throughout the film. What he brought out in the actors is a thing of brilliance. Yes, Ig is walking around with a pair of horns on his head, and yes that may be unbelievable for some audience members; but it WORKS. The reason it works, is that Aja makes the characters so real feeling that you can actually put yourself in that situation and relate to how they would deal with a guy yelling at them that’s turning into the Devil.
The Good:
- The film starts out in “The Garden of Eden” as we’re introduced to Ig and Merrin being in love
- Other nods to the bible are Eve’s Diner with the name on a big red apple, also there are a ton of snakes
- Just seeing Ig where a red shirt, yellow hoodie, and dark brown jacket leads well to devil theme. His outfit literally looks like he’s being engulfed in flames
- The soundtrack is utterly brilliant. You have: David Bowie, the Pixies, and a SKA BAND. Loved the songs
- I loved the acting from everyone but Daniel Radcliffe really stood out as the best part. Yes, it’s centered around him; but being a Harry Potter fan since he was eleven, it was really fantastic to see him in a role where he was pretty much nothing like HP
- The special effects for Ig’s transition from Human to Devil are completely amazing. It takes a while for him to get there but when he goes full-Lucifer you’re happy that you stayed for the whole journey
The Bad:
- The fact that this film didn’t get a wide release. I’m grateful it come to VOD (which is where I watched it). An audience will find this movie that way. Yet, it coulda made a ton of money, way more than Ouija, if given the proper advertising and willingness of the studio to roll it out to more theaters
- The press’s response to this film. They didn’t think it made sense, didn’t like the makeup, and didn’t like the ending. It’s just a matter of personal opinion and this is mine, but I think they were a bit too harsh on the film because they didn’t buy into the journey of Ig
Final Thoughts:
If you’re looking for a good murder mystery, dark comedy, and horror film; Horns is all three wrapped up in one beautiful package. When this comes out on bluray, I will immediately pick it up to watch the making-of documentary and learn more insight into what created this film. I already went out and purchased the book because I loved the story that much. There are some gory moments, but overall, this is a film that can be watched with your significant other without too many scary moments and make for a pretty great date night.
