Review: Horns

What to make of Horns, a dark supernatural fable that boasts an outstanding performance by Daniel Radcliffe but is marred by unfocused direction from Alexandre Aja?

Aja, who made his name with the horror flicks High Tension and The Hills Have Eyes, may have seen Joe Hill's novel as a chance to stretch out of his comfort zone. Unfortunately, this is a regrettable mismatch of director and material.

"No one is born evil," Ig Perrish (Radcliffe) reminds the audience. "Even the devil was a fallen angel." Ig, who has been branded a devil by the townsfolk after he's suspected of raping and murdering his childhood sweetheart Merrin (Juno Temple), brims with rage and despair. All that ever mattered was Merrin and now he's left with nothing except accusations of murder and doubts of his innocence from his own family.

One morning, he awakens to discover he's sprouted horns. He's understandably unsettled but no one he encounters pays any mind to the bony protrusions. If anything, their behaviour is more bizarre. Suddenly the town slut Glenna (Kelli Garner) is gorging on donuts and confessing she just wants to get fat; she's worthless anyway since guys only sleep with her when they're drunk. His doctor gleefully admits to his paedophilic tendencies before getting it on with the nurse, news reporters are literally clawing each other to land an interview with Ig, and his own parents reveal they want him to go away. His father even says, "[Merrin] was my favourite thing about you."

Horns is at its kickiest and Kafkaesque during this time, operating as a comically black horror film riffing on the "devil made me do it" idea. Ig realises he can use his powers to track down Merrin's real killer and as each encounter brings him deeper into the darkness, so too does the film slowly go off the rails.

Between the timeless love story, slightly Gothic murder mystery, religious satire, Stand By Me-like flashbacks to Ig and his friends' childhoods, it's no surprise how disjointed Horns is. Aja and, to a lesser extent, screenwriter Keith Bunin, fail in establishing a solid, connective throughline. Think of the attention and tonal consistency Guillermo Del Toro brought to every aspect of The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth, two prime examples of a traditional horror film that also contained substantial and thoughtprovoking themes.

Aja may have intended to do something more with the script, which is essentially a series of confrontations between Ig and someone acting as a vehicle to dispense more information. Whatever the intent, the execution is gormless and lacking any emotional shade - Radcliffe might as well be interacting with a green screen. As the movie progresses, Aja's impatience becomes increasingly apparent - he just wants to get to the blood-splattered finale where he can at last gratify his craving for gore.

Radcliffe, who has been committed to taking on interesting and varied roles post-Potter, is thoroughly compelling. Conveying an heretofore unseen depth of emotional vulnerability, he completely embodies Ig's aching and distress at the loss of Merrin, outrage at being branded guilty by people who've know him since he was a kid, and bewilderment at his unexpected waking nightmare.

Horns

Directed by: Alexandre Aja

Written by: Keith Bunin; adapted from Joe Hill's novel

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple, Max Minghella, Joe Anderson, Kelli Garner, Heather Graham, David Morse, James Remar, Kathleen Quinlan