530: Horns

[00:00:01] Let's get to Horns from 2013. It's directed by Alexander Aja, stars Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple, Max Minhella, Joe Anderson, Heather Graham.

[00:00:18] And the synopsis is,

[00:00:21] In the aftermath of his girlfriend's mysterious death, a young man awakens to find strange horns sprouting from his forehead.

[00:00:31] When this one was announced, I was in college. I think I saw the book maybe by chance, or it's possible I heard about the movie then sought out the book.

[00:00:42] But either way, read the book, loved it. It's done by Joe Hill, who is the son of Stephen King.

[00:00:51] I've seen it a handful of times over the years.

[00:00:55] I know that the reviews for it are a little all over the place, but that's also pretty typical with Alexander Aja, who just had Never Let Go come out.

[00:01:05] I think Kral is still my favorite of his. The Hills Have Eyes, the remake.

[00:01:13] Despite some flaws that we'll get to, I think this movie kind of rocks, to be real.

[00:01:21] It's a really high fantasy, dark comedy horror film that in some ways it looks almost like a comic book.

[00:01:31] Everything is slightly exaggerated, which is the pretty customary signature of Alexander Aja visually.

[00:01:40] Daniel Radcliffe, I mean, I'll go on a tangent real quick.

[00:01:45] He's definitely in one of the best places you could be as an actor in Hollywood.

[00:01:52] He's still fairly young.

[00:01:54] He has an endless amount of money, both in what he's already earned from Harry Potter and then will be surely be getting royalties for the rest of his life.

[00:02:05] So he doesn't have to work. He doesn't have to take big projects, small projects.

[00:02:09] So really, he has total freedom to choose what he wants.

[00:02:13] Plus the fact he's a good actor.

[00:02:16] He has a decent fan base no matter what.

[00:02:19] So since Harry Potter, it's been really interesting to see him as well as people like Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart really branch out, choose a wide variety of roles and just have fun and explore things.

[00:02:37] Circling back around though, he's great in the movie.

[00:02:40] I love the design of the character.

[00:02:42] It's a simple design with the shaggy look, the chest hair, the yellow hoodie and the horns, of course.

[00:02:50] There's just something about it that sticks out, that sticks with you.

[00:02:57] And I remember not a whole lot from the book in terms of what all was taken out or added in.

[00:03:03] I don't think it's that different.

[00:03:04] I feel like it's fairly faithful in its adaptation.

[00:03:11] Daniel Radcliffe's character has the love of his life, who he's known and been with since he was a kid.

[00:03:18] And it's very much a fantastical love story, almost twilight in nature, but not really in a bad way.

[00:03:26] It's also shot by the cinematographer of a lot of David Lynch movies, so it feels very Twin Peaks-esque in terms of the setting, the lighting, the very soft, angelic lighting.

[00:03:42] But his girlfriend is suddenly murdered and he is blamed for it.

[00:03:48] I was thinking about this last night when I was rewatching it.

[00:03:54] It almost did speak to cancel culture before cancel culture really became a big thing.

[00:04:02] In the book, from what I remember, there's more backstory of him being the kind of loser troublemaker of the town.

[00:04:10] So it's easier for people in the town to turn on him and say, oh yeah, he probably killed this girl.

[00:04:16] I can believe that.

[00:04:17] In this, there's none of that.

[00:04:21] I think it actually works in hindsight because you see, as in cancel culture, whether or not somebody did it, they're immediately, no matter how high of a stature, how much renown they have as an artist or politician, whoever, they can plummet right towards the ground and the media can turn on them, follow them around.

[00:04:44] So while there's nothing insanely deep about what it's discussing in that way, it's still fairly relevant.

[00:04:51] In terms of Alexander Aja's style, he, in the best way, I think he's very aware that he's making or setting out to make really high grade B movies, like genre movies.

[00:05:08] And that's something I like.

[00:05:10] I love B movies.

[00:05:12] But he manages to, most of the time, not always, but he manages to put his own stamp on things.

[00:05:19] They're usually very violent.

[00:05:22] There's a very dark sense of humor, especially in this, considering Daniel Radcliffe is basically the devil or made out to be the devil.

[00:05:34] Tonally, I could see it getting on some people's nerves or not totally meshing.

[00:05:38] And I don't think it's perfect in how it goes from happy to sad to violent to dark to horror fantasy.

[00:05:46] It mostly rides the fine line.

[00:05:51] More than anything, though, I just appreciate how weird it is.

[00:05:55] It's in its own little world.

[00:05:57] It's fully committed to the concept of him growing horns, and then he walks around the town.

[00:06:05] And because of this, people, when they see him, they immediately reveal their darkest secrets to him and just, I guess, in a way, confessing their sins.

[00:06:17] I think the first time with that, I didn't love it.

[00:06:21] But now it really works for me.

[00:06:25] I think all the random people revealing these things feels totally genuine.

[00:06:32] I could see many people I know revealing the exact same things, or at least people I've encountered in my life before, saying exactly that.

[00:06:42] And it's very, very funny.

[00:06:44] Like, laugh out loud funny.

[00:06:47] Probably the best one would be the doctor's office with the doctor and nurse, and then the secretary and the mom.

[00:06:59] Heather Graham, who's a great character actor, she's another highlight with those encounters.

[00:07:08] This movie also does a good job of transitioning from present to past.

[00:07:14] Like, I think all of the flashbacks, where it's suddenly with the young version of Daniel Radcliffe and Juno Temple, who, also great actor, love Juno Temple.

[00:07:26] It really is seamless.

[00:07:27] Like, I'm never thinking that's jarring.

[00:07:29] It doesn't really go on too long.

[00:07:31] Overall, it's paced well.

[00:07:35] The bar sequence when he gets out of his car and the news people are around him and they're trying to get him to talk about or get him to confess.

[00:07:45] And then he says, alright, if you beat each other up, maybe I'll talk to the winner.

[00:07:50] And then they just start wailing on each other.

[00:07:54] Not to mention when he leaves the bar and it's set on fire and you see that slow-mo shot of the smoke as he's walking through and it's really epic and stylish.

[00:08:06] Some criticisms, though.

[00:08:09] The last ten minutes would be, unfortunately, be my least favorite part.

[00:08:14] Because for most of the runtime, while yes, obviously him growing horns is fantastical, it's still kind of playing in a reality to where, alright, I can buy that this is happening.

[00:08:28] But in that climax with the reveal of the killer and that final showdown, when Daniel Radcliffe starts growing wings and actually becomes the devil,

[00:08:41] to me, it breaks the rules of the world that it was just setting up.

[00:08:47] And I'm just thinking, every time I see it, I'm like, alright, you kind of lost me there.

[00:08:53] Special effects-wise, I mean, I can get over bad effects if the storytelling is good.

[00:08:58] I don't care if they're not so good quality.

[00:09:01] But all in all, it's a bit of a wet noodle.

[00:09:06] And makes the movie end on a slightly sour note.

[00:09:10] Not a huge deal.

[00:09:12] As always, for me, it's more about the journey.

[00:09:15] And I think the journey is very interesting.

[00:09:19] The soundtrack is good.

[00:09:21] You got David Bowie, the Pixies, the score as well.

[00:09:27] The title card.

[00:09:29] It's the cigarette burner.

[00:09:31] The red behind the title card.

[00:09:33] And then the horns title actually starts growing horns.

[00:09:37] I think that's pretty creative.

[00:09:42] One of the more emotional scenes in terms of the good and the bad of people revealing their secrets to him.

[00:09:49] Or their true feelings.

[00:09:50] And I think the whole movie is largely about the two-faced nature of people.

[00:09:57] Of putting on a happy face.

[00:09:59] Or saying, oh yeah, I love you.

[00:10:00] I like you.

[00:10:01] And actually, they're out to get you.

[00:10:03] Or they don't feel that way.

[00:10:04] They hate you.

[00:10:05] Et cetera, et cetera.

[00:10:06] So all that definitely, aside from the cancel culture stuff, that speaks true.

[00:10:14] The scene with the mom when he goes to try and find comfort at home.

[00:10:20] And the mom sees the horns.

[00:10:21] And then she's like, I don't want you to be my son anymore.

[00:10:24] I don't want you to be around.

[00:10:26] You're such a disappointment.

[00:10:28] Even though in the last scene she was acting as though she was in full support of him as you think she would be.

[00:10:35] But in actuality, that's not how she felt.

[00:10:39] And then the father, in his own way of saying, your girlfriend, who was the one who was killed, was my favorite part about you.

[00:10:50] The flashback scene of the dare by the friend group.

[00:10:57] The young Daniel Radcliffe goes down the log slide in the grocery cart, but then gets stuck under the logs.

[00:11:08] Definitely there is a lot of Garden of Eden imagery.

[00:11:13] A lot of looks at Faith, as well as a lot of pokes at Faith.

[00:11:19] All the stuff with Juno Temple dancing through the woods.

[00:11:23] And she has all this golden light behind her and the snakes and even the mention of the Garden of Eden.

[00:11:29] The crosses.

[00:11:33] And none of that is subtle, but considering it's a B genre movie, I don't really care about that.

[00:11:41] Oh, one last moment.

[00:11:43] The bartender girl who he sleeps with at the beginning.

[00:11:48] The first time he realizes, okay, something's not right, is when she's asking him if she can eat all the donuts because she just wants to get fat and stuff them in her face.

[00:11:58] Like, it's so weird, but it does feel very human.

[00:12:02] Maybe not in a good way, but it feels true to form.

[00:12:06] So yeah, I think this movie, it's underrated.

[00:12:11] It's not one for everyone, nor do I think any Alexander Aja movies are, but this is definitely a very refreshingly different fantasy horror film that doesn't really get made that often with the budget, with the cast.

[00:12:26] And more often than not, pulls off what it's trying to do.

[00:12:29] So I respect that.

[00:12:33] That one is a heavy four out of five.