Horns (2014), R, ★★★

Daniel Radcliffe as Ignatius with "horns".

Do you want to have a good time with a new Halloween film? Well, this movie has Daniel Radcliffe. No, it's not another Harry Potter film. But, I wonder what it was like during that meeting when someone pitched the idea to star Radcliffe with horns on his head but the filmmakers and writers have to a complex idea as to why he has two protrusions on his head. It is a very disturbing reason why, but I'm glad that the movie is as complex as I thought.

Ignatius Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe) is an outsider according to the townspeople. But he did not care whether or not he is different. All that matters is that he is in love with Merrin Williams (Juno Temple). Ig promises to Merrin to be the love of her life as they, in a corny scene, are beneath a tree kissing. Unfortunately, bad news arises as he wakes up lying down on the floor with a bottle of vodka and many angry protesters outside of his house are condemning him to hell as he finds out that Merrin has been murdered and they think that Ignatius did it.

Ignatius calls his friend who is a lawyer, Lee Torneau (Max Minghella) for help. But, when he goes to his family's home for sanctuary, his brother, Terry (Joe Anderson) wanting to help Ig clear his name. Their father, Derrick (James Remar), gets a lawyer for him but all the other lawyers say that Ig should take a plea. Ignatius seeks out to find out who murdered Merrin to prove his innocence.

The next morning, Ig wakes up with two horns on his head and as Glenna (Kelli Garner), an old friend of Ig's, notices it and laughs. Ig goes to the doctor to get the horns checked out and in kind of a weird and marvelous scene, he tells the receptionist that it is all right to tell the mother to shut her kid up as the child is crying. Ig controls people's lives with his schemes as he is ironically portrayed as a little devil.

Radcliffe and Juno Temple.

It is a tonally confusing film full of dark aspirations to tempt people to speak their mind. It mixes fantasy and horrible reality well in more comical scenes than in dramatic scenes. It is a hoot. I describe the movie as a dark comedy-fantasy-thriller with elements from Twilight. But, they do something more with the dark elements better than the franchise. It creates more tension with people, including Ignatius, as to suspect how they feel about each other and themselves. Also, the murder mystery is the center of the film and it is kind of interesting to see how the townspeople would react to him and the murder itself. The town is like another character.

Daniel Radcliffe gives a sublime performance as a disturbing and indifferent character trying to prove his innocence and convince people that he is a good person. Is there going to be redemption in the end? We do not know. I will admit that a few scenes get out of hand with Ignatius tempting people what to do and the ending is disappointing as the mystery unfolds quite quickly. But, I had a good time with this film and I do not know that this will be a good movie for the weary minded. However, the film is an amusing, grim fairy tale anchored by a daunting and risk-worthy performance by Daniel Radcliffe.

***