Theater Whore: Horns

Horns 7/10

Oh, how a trailer can ruin a good movie! This movie Horns is one of the strangest and fun movies I've seen this year and if it weren't for an interview with the star Daniel Radcliffe I heard last week I wouldn't have known this movie even existed. I had not seen any trailers or heard a damned thing about this. I decided to give it a try since it is in theaters as well as On Demand and I am glad that I did.

This is the story of revenge and if there's one thing I love its a good revenge story. Radcliffe stars as Ig aka Iggy. He is a okay enough guy that works as a DJ. His girlfriend is this perfect girl named Merrin played by Juno Temple. They are a great couple and love each other very much which means that somebody has got to go. Merrin has gots to go!

She is found raped and murdered and everyone thinks that Iggy did it. His friend is defending him, his family doesn't think he is innocent but will fight for his freedom because he is their son. The story goes back and forth showing how Iggy and Merrin first met in church with her sending him Morse code with the light from her cross. They also show how he and his friends grew up including that time Iggy's friend got his fingers blown off playing with a cherry bomb.

Iggy spends the night with a a girl he grew up with that everyone has slept with. He heads to the mirror and notices some lumps on his head. He pokes at them and sprouts horns. Just go with it, people. This is a strange film. The girl starts to tell him all this personal information and asks him permission to eat all the donuts. He says sure and leaves.

He ends up going to a doctor and starts to realize that people are telling him their most personal thoughts. In the waiting room a mother tells him that she wants to leave her screaming kid there and bang her golf instructor, the receptionist tells him she wants to tell the mother to leave with her terrible child, the doctor tells him he wants to snort Oxy and bang his daughters friend. After a trip to the bar he realizes that he can also control people. He causes a news crew to beat the hell out of each other which is pretty cool.

Iggy starts to find out the truth about Merrin's murder. He suspects his brother after touching him and reading his mind. He later find out even more evidence that points to who the killer may be. By this point he is thinking he is crazy since some people can't even see his horns. He ends up being burned alive and left for dead but doesn't die. I'm gonna stop right there because the ending is the best part and I don't wanna spoil it too much.

I've read some reviews of this and they are all over the place. This movie does jump back and forth between dark comedy and just dark at times. I really like movies like this where things aren't laid out for you too clearly. This movie had no advertising, a trailer that made it look like a comedy, and a director that has done garbage. It stood no chance but I still think it should be checked out.

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I need to add something. I gave this a 7/10 and didn't explain what made it a 7 and not something higher. It mostly had to do with the special effects and CGI. The horns looked great, but the CGI snakes never looked as if they had any weight to them and when people reacted to them it seemed like they were pretending. Great music, okay acting for the most part, but they CGI was too shaky.