My take: At the core, this is a love story, but it was still fun to watch with excellent makeup/effects and a solid mystery story to keep you guessing.

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

Synopsis of Horns

I was surprised to find that Horns is a love story at its core. Daniel Radcliffe plays Ig, a 20-something man who stands accused of murdering his high school sweetheart, who he was (and is) madly in love with. Stricken and grieving, the community, media, and even his family believe he committed the foul deed, despite Ig’s claims of innocence.

Horns poster

Poster for Horns with Daniel Radcliffe

Accused, alone, and utterly drunk, Ig turns his back on God by crushing a statue of Saint Mary and pissing on the murder site of his beloved. He awakes the next morning with horns growing out of his head. This is where is starts to get interesting.

With the horns, everyone Ig encounters becomes brutally honest and will do nearly anything he says (if they are inclined to do that thing). He causes fights, fires, and other mayhem before he realizes he can use his powers to find the real killer.

What I Thought of Horns & Who Should Watch It

There are elements of the film that I could leave behind. Some of the flashback scenes between Ig and his dead girlfriend are sickly sweet and some of the elements of the murder mystery are a bit cliché.

But I was able to overlook those issues, and I just had a good time watching it. The makeup on Daniel Radcliffe was amazing and made me wish my Halloween costume could look that good. The soundtrack, with Bowie tracks galore, made me smile. The characters were interesting to watch, with just enough childhood background to give you a clear view of their motivations and eccentricities.

And Daniel Radcliffe continues to surprise me. He refuses to be typecast or held to short-lived fame as Harry Potter. This movie and his performance in The Woman in Black make me excited to see what he will do next.

I would recommend this film to people who like fun, popular horror films. I would also recommend it to people who like Stephen King movies. Horns is based on a book by Joe Hill, Stephen King’s son. While he is not the same as his father, he has a similar talent for good storytelling.

I rented the movie via Amazon, but it will also have a limited theatrical release starting October 31, 2014.

Trailer for Horns