Horns (film)

Horns is a 2013 Canadian-American dark fantasy thriller film directed by Alexandre Aja, based on Joe Hill's novel of the same name. It stars Daniel Radcliffe and Juno Temple. Ig Perrish, accused of the rape and murder of his girlfriend, uses newly discovered paranormal abilities in his pursuit to uncover the real killer. The film had its world premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, and is set to have its North American theatrical release in 2014.

Cast

• Daniel Radcliffe as Ignatius "Ig" Perrish—A 26-year-old man who wakes up after a drunken night to find two protrusions growing from his forehead, which give him the power to compel people to unravel their deepest secrets.^[3] Radcliffe stated, "It’s a very, very different type of part than anything I’ve done before",^[4][5] adding that the role was "deeply emotional and also incredibly outrageous in some ways".^[6] Examining the character, he said, "To play somebody who, in the midst of a time in his life of great turmoil anyway, undergoes this horrific transformation into a devil character – it was very, very exciting".^[7] Radcliffe describes the part as being "about what we can become when the circumstances of our life kind of conspire to put us at our worst point".^[8]
• Juno Temple as Merrin Williams—Ig's late girlfriend whose death transpired one year prior.^[9]
• James Remar as Derrick Perrish
• Kelli Garner as Glenna
• Heather Graham as The Waitress
• Joe Anderson as Terry Perrish
• Max Minghella as Lee Tourneau
• Laine MacNeil as Young Glenna
• Dylan Schmid as Lee at 13
• Sabrina Carpenter as Young Merrin
• Alex Zahara as Dr. Renald
• Kendra Anderson as Delilah
• Michael Adamthwaite as Eric Hannity
• Desiree Zurowski as Radio Reporter
• Meredith McGeachie as Mary
• John Stewart as Diner Manager
• Erik McNamee as Eric at 15
• Mitchell Kummen as Ig at 13
• Jared Ager-Foster as Terry at 15

Shia LaBeouf was originally set to play the lead, Ig Perrish, but was later replaced by Radcliffe.^[10][11]

Production

Principal photography started late September 2012, in British Columbia.^[12][13] The filming took place in Vancouver, Mission and Squamish.^[14][15][16] As of December 2012, they wrapped their last days of shooting.^[8][14] Alexandre Aja explained his initial interest in the project, "After reading Joe Hill's cult book, I couldn't resist temptation to dive into the devilish underworld and reinvent a universal myth".^[17]

Release

The world premiere was held at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival,^[18] and a theatrical release will begin in the U.S. in 2014.^[19] The film's North American distribution rights were acquired by Dimension Films and RADiUS-TWC.^[20]

Critical reaction

Horns has received generally mixed reviews from critics, earning a 45% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 5.3/10, based on an aggregation of 11 reviews.^[21]

John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter gave a positive review of the film, remarking, "While this all begins as a kind of supernatural black comedy ... the tone grows darker with each revelation".^[22]

Joe Hill, who wrote the novel the film is based on, praised Radcliffe's performance, calling it a "wrenching, vulnerable, emotionally naked performance that isn’t like anything he’s ever done on screen before. He is such a wonderful Ig Perrish".^[23]

The Guardian scored the film two out of five stars, calling it "a Dogma-style mash-up of grim comedy and religious satire".^[24] Eric Kohn of IndieWire wrote, "Predominantly a failure of tone, "Horns" has plenty of admirable traits and yet dooms itself from the outset. It's an admirable conceit stuffed into far less subtle material".^[25] Peter Debruge of Variety sensed that the film "benefits from the helmer's twisted sensibility, but suffers from a case of overall silliness".^[26]

References

External links

• Horns at the Internet Movie Database
• Horns at Rotten Tomatoes