Based on the Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son) novel, Alexandre Aja directs Horns, a film about a man who discovers horns growing from his head, soon after his girlfriend was killed.

Set in small town America is the story of Ig Perrish, who finds horns sprouting from his temples after learning his girlfriend Juno was killed. From being accused of murder, being cursed with horns, to using his demonic powers to discover the truth behind Juno’s death, Horns walks the wire between being a religious comedy and murder mystery, without falling off.

Danielle Radcliff is superb as Ig Perrish, a man mourning the loss of his childhood sweetheart, whilst dealing with the unfortunate occurrence of suddenly looking like the devil. The supporting cast consisting of Juno Temple, Joe Anderson, Kathleen Quinlan, James Remar and David Morse do a terrific cast with the somewhat fluctuating and esoteric script and all manage to bring some grounding to a story that gradually becomes fanciful.

The film itself draws on from a number of elements. Once Ig has developed his horns, initially there are moments of theological humour that follows in the steps of Dogma. As the story develops it takes a darker psychological turn, more in keeping with Donnie Darkie, and even hints of Twin Peaks. With those films focusing purely on one tenor, with Horns trying to juggle both its not surprising then that the film doesn’t quite manage to hit their dizzying heights. But, that doesn’t mean the film fails to deliver, far from it in fact.

Though the film doesn’t quite nail the many concepts and ideas running through it, it does however execute the main plot effectively, with Radcliff once again showing he definitely has the acting chops and screen presence to carry a film on his shoulders.

With a screenplay that commits a host of sins, it Radcliff’s devilishly good performance makes this a hell of a film.

‘Horns’ opens in cinemas around the UK from October 31st.

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