Review of Horns (2013) by Jesse O — 06 Feb 2015

Will Alexandre Aja ever make an original film? All he's done are either remakes, adaptations of books, and rip-offs. As much as I loved High Tension, I would put it among the best horror films of the 2000s, that was just a ripoff of a Dean Koontz book.

He has never done something that is truly his. Not that I'm comparing the two, because it can never be done, but Kurosawa also did a lot of adaptations, is something that might be brought up. The problem is that Kurosawa was an auteur who managed how to take what was already established and make completely his own.

Whether it be through the use of cinematography, storytelling style, editing, etc. He knew how to craft a film that fit his vision while not undermining whatever book he may have been adapting. Alexandre Aja is no Kurosawa, let me tell you that right now.

I just wish that this guy would do something that truly felt his own. Because of that, the guy doesn't really have an identity. He's certainly capable enough behind the camera, but it comes across like he's more than just a solid hand.

On to this review though. I can almost guarantee you, I'd be willing to bet money on it, that this film is unlike any dark comedy/thriller/horror/romance film you've ever seen. I'm drawing a blank but I'm SURE there's been several other films that fit that description.

Somehow. however, I think this one has them beat. In this movie Ig, believed by the town to have murdered his beautiful girlfriend, somehow grows horns that causes people who are around him to confess their misdeeds, admitting to some terrible things in the process, and their desires.

This, very obviously, leads to some very funny moments. Though I kinda wished they would've done more with that. They certainly had more than enough time given how long the movie actually was. Given how the film was all over the place, tonally, I think it needed a little bit more editing so the tonal jumbles wouldn't have felt so jarring.

But it is what it is, nothing you can do about that. The film does do a very good job at showcasing the romance between Ig and Merrin and making you truly feel that these two are in love. It's certainly easy because it's not difficult to fall in love with Juno Temple in this movie.

At least to me. So I was on board with that from the get-go. The issues come in to play once the murder mystery starts to unravel. There's only two real options as to who it was that murdered Merrin.

And you're pretty much leaning 85% one way anyway, so it's almost impossible to build suspense when you know who's gonna do it. Or at least you have a very good idea in your head of who it's gonna be.

The film certainly fails at throwing in more options as to who may have had a motive to murder Merrin. Two isn't so much suspense. Not saying everybody had to have been in love with her, it could've been the next door neighbor for X or Y reason.

Just throwing some ideas out there. These types of murder mysteries work best when there's a wider variety of options to ponder about. The fact that it's only two really takes out a big part of what is fun about these movies.

There's some cool, gory moments there and Daniel Radcliffe is really good here, so nothing to complain on that front. Problem is that the movie, trying to jumble so many genres, is certainly a jack of all trades.

It does everything it sets out to do well, but it never excels at just one category, in this case genre. So that keeps the movie from making it past a certain point. The cast is good, but they can only go so far when it almost feels like the script is purposely sabotaging them.

Not saying the film is poorly written or anything like that, it's just not structured the way it should be. So therefore it comes across as if the film is jumping all over the place for no rhyme or reason.

Still, though, and I want to read the book, which I have but I haven't had the chance to read yet, this is a pretty good movie all things considered. I would definitely recommend this as a Netflix watch.

Genre fans will definitely enjoy this.