Review: Horns - Alexandre Aja

" I'm gonna love you for the rest of my life.
 Just love me for the rest of mine."

          Well to say this film wasn't what I expected would be an understatement. I went into this film blind, which is rare for me and i really had no idea what to expect from the story, other that Daniel Radcliffe's character grows horns and become some devil like character. If that's all you know then great, stop reading here and go see the film then come back and see what i have to say one it. Ok I'm hoping anyone reading from this point has either seen the film or doesn't care if they have it ruined on them.

          The film starts out and you're instantly thrown in to the middle of the story which is a method of story telling I like, the main character Ig Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe) has been accused of the murder and rape of his girlfriend Merrin Williams (Juno Temple). It feel similar to Gone Girl's first act's who-done-it plot and revolves around Ig coming to terms with losing his girlfriend and how this affects him. Most of the big character revelations come in the form of flashbacks which flesh out Ig and Merrin's relationship and those of their friends and family. It also unravels the night Merrin was killed from several characters points of view and the limited time they had with Merrin that night.

          Ig doesn't take the sudden loss of his girlfriend and the blame he's receiving from the press and the local townspeople, so he gets drunk and does a lot of stupid things. When he's drunk he sleeps with a girl he knows and wakes up in her bed the next morning it's here he (and we the audience) notice he's started growing horns, becoming the devil the local people and media see him as. From here on out the film becomes strange, Ig's horn give him a certain control over people, they confess their darkest desires to him and seek him allowance to carry them out, which freaks him out and is very weird to watch not knowing what or why this is happening. This leads to some hilarious scenes where people carry out their hearts desires when in the presence of Ig, my favourite one is in the doctors office, with the doctor and his nurse. Ig soon realizes that this power can help him find out who really attacked and killed Merrin. He tracks down the oppositions star witness the waitress from the restaurant where Ig and Merrin had their fight the night she died, she confesses she lied to the police just to get famous. The film then flashes back to Ig seeing Merrin for the first time as children and also show's Ig and his friends as children.

          I think I've talked about the plot enough and don't want to spoil the film, but there are several revelations that completely change how both we the audience and Ig see people and there is a powerful scene where Ig uses his powers to get revenge on those who have hurt him and and eventual show down with her killer that is amazing.

          As I said I really had no idea what to expect from this film when I watched it. I was blown away by how engaging the story was and how it slowly built and fleshed out things. From the director's previous work I was expecting something more generic and a cheesey Halloween flick, I could not of been further from the truth. Daniel Radclife does an amazing job in what is essentially a one man show (even if hearing him with an american accent is weird). I also had no idea this film was based on a novel of the same name by Joe Hill. I would highly recommend this film and I’d give it a 10/10. One of my favourite films this year and that's saying a lot given how great a year this has been see the previous mentioned Gone Girl.

          p.s. I know I haven't done this in awhile, I hope to change this and hopefully I'll get a lot more reviews done next year. I'm going to make up a top ten movies of 2014 list and hopefully another review before the years out. Thanks David K.