Ig (Daniel Radcliffe) is going through a living hell. His girlfriend Merrin (Juno Temple) has been murdered, and everyone in the small town he has lived in all his life thinks he did it. His family don't conceal their suspicions, and he is constantly followed around by TV news crews hoping to record his confession.
One day, Ig wakes up to find a set of devilish horns growing on his forehead. These horns seem to confer a strange superpower on him. Everyone he runs into loses any inhibitions, confesses all their deepest secrets to him, and does whatever he suggests. This results in a series of bizarre occurences, some tragic, some hilarious.
Ig soon realises that his horns have an advantage -- to find out who killed Merrin and clear his name, all he needs to do is track down the culprit, and they will automatically confess. Of course, things aren't that simple. Meanwhile, the story of Ig's relationship with Merrin is slowly revealed through flashbacks. Gradually, Ig embraces his new persona as a modern-day demon, befriending an army of snakes who seem to do his bidding, and carrying a pitchfork around wherever he goes.
It was the first non-Harry-Potter movie that I had seen Daniel Radcliffe in, and I have to admit, I was worried that he'd suffer from being "the famous Harry Potter". (I forget what this phenomenon is actually called: does anyone know?) This is when, no matter what character the actor plays, you can never forget that it's just them playing a character, or can never forget a character they played before. Thankfully, this phenomenon disappeared after about 15 minutes as I was watching Horns, and I was able to fully engage with the character of Ig. Perhaps the fact that he had an American (or Canadian?) accent in this role helped, too.
The concept behind Horns is a bizarre one, not seen in many Hollywood movies. I really enjoyed it though, and couldn't wait to see how it would play out. To me, it seemed more the kind of concept and storyline you would see in a manga or anime. In fact, I think with the addition of a bit more backstory and both funny and sad incidents, it could potentially make a very good 12-episode manga.
The backdrop is that of a beautiful Canadian mountain town, and the cool soundtrack features David Bowie and Marilyn Manson. The film seems to become more and more rushed towards the ending, with some over-the-top incidents and horror scenes that were a bit out of step with the rest of the movie. Despite that (and being someone who hates horror movies), I would recommend it. I would like to watch it again too, as I suspect it has some deeper symbolism that might be missed from a single viewing.
Would I watch it again? YES!!
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