Review of Horns (2013) by Dawdlingpoet — 28 Nov 2021

This is a drama fantasy film, with horror elements and it features themes including flashbacks, the supernatural, anger and infidelity. I've seen it categorised as a comedy film - dark comedy in particular and this is very much a dark film but I wouldn't say I found much in the way of comedy in it. There's more mystery and fantasy than comedy present, I'd say. I wasn't entirely convinced by the main character, Ig Perrish, certainly at first. He came across as someone desperately trying to seem like an uncaring, rebellious type and given Daniel Radcliffe plays him, I couldn't help but think he was, as an actor, desperately trying to seem cool to an older audience, trying to shake off the whole Harry Potter role. I think its fair to say I didn't feel especially sorry for Ig but thats not to say that I wasn't at all interested in him, or perhaps moreso in what was happening to him and why.

The plot was fairly strange, somewhat mysterious and I found it quite an atmospheric watch, with some mildly sinister incidental music raising the tension and making me guess even moreso what may happen next. Its relatively dark both in terms of the themes and tone in general and also in terms of a number of scenes set apparently at night, some of which I found a bit difficult to see full detail in terms of who was where and what was what. Having read the basic plot (in terms of the character waking up to find mysterious horns on his head) before watching the film, I suppose I could have presumed it to be one of the many superhero type films, like a Marvel comic adaptation or otherwise but no, this is definitely more of a perhaps anti-superhero type film due to the distrust the community have and the quite dark tone and themes covered in the plot. It is a hard film to describe - I wouldn't say its a basic tale of morality as such but it certainly isn't a regular drama, or even horror, film. There are, as mentioned, fantasy elements but this is very much an adult version of a fairy tale perhaps, somewhat like Pan's Labyrinth perhaps. It is somewhat gothic in terms of the plot but obviously its set in contemporary times. At one point I found myself thinking that its a bit like a more adult version of the popular 1990s Jim Carrey comedy film 'Liar, Liar', only darker of course.

Cast wise, as I say the main character, Ig Perrish, is played by Daniel Radcliffe. I didn't think he was the best choice of actor for this role - he came across as an adolescent still trying to prove to everyone that he's more grown up and professional than perhaps seemed genuine. It sounds a bit harsh but thats how I felt in any case - he is a bit whiny in tone and it didn't appeal to me greatly overall. Meanwhile, Lee Tourneau is played by Max Minghella, Terry Perrish is played by Joe Anderson, Veronica is played by Heather Graham and Eric Hannity is played by Michael Adamthwaite.

Content wise, the film contains strong language (including racist and homophobic terms and religious slurs), numerous sex references and sex scenes, plus moderate to strong violence, including bloody violence and drug references. The film has been given a 15 rating due to this.

One of the main music tracks played, aside from the incidental music, is Heroes by David Bowie, which is quite an iconic tune. This is ironic given, as I've already said, I don't regard this as (certainly a traditional) a superhero film. I suppose this points to the filmmakers wanting us to regard Ig as an underdog type.

This film has a rather unsettling feel to it but its not scary as such, rather its...different - bizarre, quirky, with a not entirely traditional plot structure. At times I felt a bit frustrated that the main story regarding the death of Ig's girlfriend seemed to be all but forgotten and there's a definite plot twist towards the end but not one that I felt, given the general tone of the film, really fit with the rest of the film. I wouldn't say that I wasn't at all interested in it but it was a bit too quirky for my personal taste. I think if the script were changed and so on, it could have been better but its certainly not awful - it just seemed a bit off the mark. Its alright, rather interesting in a way but not exactly wonderful or constantly captivating either. I thought the plot was interesting but not as good as it probably could have been - the plot pace isn't great and I didn't feel Daniel Radcliffe was necessarily the best actor to play the main role of Ig. However, it is somewhat mysterious, atmospheric and tense and so it could certainly be worse. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether this film is worth a watch or not.