Review of Horns

I'll tell you, what happen! This devilish movie directed by Alexandra Aja was so hell bend on making us, laugh, that it fails to adapted, the best parts of author Joe Hill's novel, with the same name. Without spoiling the movie, too much, all, I got to say, is I really didn't, how this movie turn out. The movie has way too many dark and unpleasantly jokes, tasteless nudity, ill-judged dialogue and over the top cartoony violence that it really made the serious melodrama tone of Iggy Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe) trying to solve a murder mystery of his dead girlfriend, Merrin Williams (Juno Temple), through the use of demonic powers, seem secondary to the hilarious of impulsive behavior. Because of this, I felt like the film tones was all over the place. Not only that, but the film seem a bit dumb down, compare to the novel. All the sophistication material from the novel seem to be missing from this film. A good example of this, is the "treehouse of the mind" sequence. While, I do understand, why the movie felt like using extreme use of impulsive behaviors to gain people interested. I felt like those 'dopamine grabbers' were somewhat misused. Just think, how great, the movie would had been, if they use sex, drug, and violence to show a more intelligent side of the story. It would truly had grab the concept of the novel by the horns, better. One thing, I didn't about the film is how the timeline of events has change. In the book, all of the events takes place, a full year after the murder in which, Iggy has been cleared of all charges through a lack of evidence. This allows, a greater amount of time, for the supporting characters to hide their true state of mind about Iggy and a greater shock value for the readers, when their true feelings get expose. Yet, in the film, all of the events, are all fairly recent after the murder. This doesn't give enough time, for characters to hide anything, because how the investigation is still ongoing. It's not as suspenseful as the book. One thing that both, the book and movie fail at; was the ending. Both were very disappointing. However, I would rather have the climatic fight at the Foundry in the book over the one, we got in this film. The results of all these mistakes, cause the loosely based movie to look a bit lukewarm. Indeed, hell has frozen over. Don't get me wrong, not all of the film was bad. The acting was alright for the most part. Daniel Radcliffe really does shine as the main lead, despite his character not having the voice changeling power. At least, it's not Shia LeBeouf as the lead role. Thank God! In the end, Radcliffe was perfect for the role, as he's able to show, his good angelic side, and also his punishing wickedness. Another thing, I like about the film is how Juno Temple isn't typecast as the over promiscuity female, here. This is one of the few movies, I seem her in, that she was somewhat, a decent character that you kinda want to root for. Still, nevertheless, her scenes in the film were a little far too short. Because of this, her character seem a bit one-dimensional and shallow. Most of film has Juno Temple as eye candy to Daniel Radcliffe's character. Also, it's really hard to believe, that her character, is religionist, when most of her adult scenes have her, naked, sleeping with Iggy. It didn't have that emotional impact as it should. The supporting cast is also a mixed bag for me. Kelli Garner, Max Minghella, and Joe Anderson were great, as Iggy's trouble friends & family members. However, I didn't think the movie gave, their characters, enough depth. It was very out of the blue, and jarring to suddenly find out that Iggy's brother, Terry (Joe Anderson) is a drug addict, without any backstory to it. Also, the film is, a bit sad, to see, that Kelli Garner's character, Glenna Shepard, doesn't get her happy ending, despite how good of a character, she was. For Max Minghella, his character is way too nice and predictable, that the twist toward the end, didn't have the punch, like it should had. Also, I didn't like, how the movie cut away, most of his backstory like his eye damage. Another mixed bag for me, was the music choice. I like how songs like 'Heroes' by David Bowie, "Personal Jesus" by Marilyn Manson 'Eyes on Fire' by Blue Foundation and 'Where is my Mind' by the Pixies, fit so well, with much of the film. Still, I was hoping that songs from the book like The Rolling Stones song "You Can't Always Get What You Want", would appeared. Sadly, it does not. Other things, that I love from this film is the make-up. It really did look, like Daniel Radcliffe was truly, turning to the devil in this film. Also, the visual effects in this film were somewhat impressive. I also like, all of the Canadian locations and all the biblical symbolism, they used in this film. It gave the film, it's unique, fun-looking horror style. Overall: The suspense and mystery in this film was very lackluster, because Horns feel cramped and cluttered, by unfunny jokes, pointless nudity, and cartoony violence. In my opinion, the movie should have save more room to explore the story's classical themes of good and evil. It would had made a better film. Horns is an adaptation that never quite hits the dramatic heights of the brilliant Joe Hill (AKA Stephen King's son) novel on which it is based on. To hell with this film. Just read the book, instead.