Horns

Harry Potter embraces the dark side—involuntarily and temporarily—in Alexandre Aja's adaptation of the 2010 novel by Joe Hill (son of Stephen King). Daniel Radcliffe stars in this horror comedy as Ig, a pariah widely believed to have murdered his long-time girlfriend (Juno Temple). Flashbacks chronicle how the pair met as children, and eventually embarked on romance, until she dumped him on the night he was planning to propose—the same night she died. After cursing God and giving in to temptation with a local barmaid, Ig finds demonic horns literally growing from his forehead that bring a dark power: people confess their darkest desires to him, asking for permission to give in to them. Ig decides to use his power to identify the real killer, but may not be able to manage that without turning fully devilish, a fate that seems increasingly likely as the horns grow, since he begins to attract snakes, and starts carrying a pitchfork. Obviously, Horns features an oddball premise, but since it never establishes how—or when—Ig's demonic abilities will work, the result is an anything goes vibe. Also, the whodunit aspect of the plot is a mess, with suspicion thrown on virtually every other character (although the guilty party will likely be obvious to most fairly early on). Ultimately, this is a near-miss, a supernatural romantic mystery that is ambitious but also jumbled. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (19 min.) and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for an uneven film.] (F. Swietek)