Movie Review: Horns

Having nothing else to watch this week (that is, the movie week Wednesday to Tuesday), we went to see Horns, by virtue of its trailer.  According to the trailer, you have a guy with horns and he seems to make people around him do bad things.

Interesting enough I suppose.

The trailer wasn't too clear about the plot (or maybe I wasn't paying too close an attention), but I'm hoping for something funny, intentional or otherwise.

Well, it wasn't really funny, or a lot of fun.  It was a rather serious movie with biblical themes littered all over the place.  Having not read the book (by which it was based on), I'm not sure what the author was getting at, but the movie is basically a magical-murder-mystery-love-story.  The closest thing I can liken it to will probably be Twilight, with horns instead of fangs.  And a bit more fun, granted.

Most of the 'fun' can be attributed to Daniel Radcliffe, who is looking quite fine, with or without horns.  He's all grown up, 5 o'clock shadow and Elijah Wood eyes and all.  His acting is okay, though I was a bit disappointed -- he seems to be walking about mostly bewildered, sometimes angry, sometimes screaming.  I was hoping to see a bit more of his acting range, but the movie seems to only demand a certain subset of his acting skills.

I don't know most of the other actors involved, maybe except the main villain, who was sufficiently evil.  I was surprised at seeing Heather Graham, who seems to be reprising her role in Bowfinger.  The female lead/love interest seem to have spent the entire movie crying and dancing semi-naked.

There are twists aplenty, this is a murder mystery after all, but the story is a bit flat, despite its fantastic nature.  I'm not sure if the movie explained why the horns appeared -- they just did.  Then there were pitchforks, and snakes slithering all over the place.  Well, I suppose I'd rather they just had things happen, than spend a big chunk of screen time trying to explain things at the expense of good storytelling.

All in all, I can't really say I can recommend the movie, unless maybe you'd like to see how Mr. Radcliffe is coming along, as an actor or magical being or his abs or something.  If you like fantasy with your religious imagery, I guess this film might be of interest to you.

Well, maybe just watch it on tape (or Bluray), at home, on a Holloween (it isn't really scarey, except maybe for the makeup).  Or maybe just to please your girlfriend.

Verdict: 2.5/5  It's an okay movie at best.

TL;DR:
+ Daniel Radcliffe
- Daniel Radcliffe's limited acting, (hopefully) not his best
+ Nice prosthetic effects
- So so story

Details:
Opening Date: November 12, 2014
Genre: Fantasy, Murder Mystery
Imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1528071/