Horns

Harry Potter goes over to the dark side in Horns, a nasty little movie from director Alexandre Aja, maker of Piranha 3D and the decent remake effort, The Hills Have Eyes. Danielle Radcliffe plays Ig, accused of killing his girlfriend Merrin (Juno Temple) after an ugly breakup. Not too long after this event, Ig starts sprouting horns out of his head, much to his chagrin. When people see these horns, they behave rather badly, but they also have a hard time lying. So Ig uses the horns to not only bring out the worst in people, but to start solving the mystery of his lover's death. Radcliffe is great here, using a strong American accent and getting a nice chance to let his nasty side come out. Temple is adorable as Merrin, her story told in flashbacks and leaving no mystery as to why Ig is so messed up after the loss. Joe Anderson is good as Ig's musician brother, strung out on drugs and hiding a few secrets. James Remar, David Morse and Kathleen Quinlan all make their marks in supporting roles. The movie is a hard R, with crazy violence. Mommies and daddies, don't let your young kids watch this one, no matter how much they want to see the new flick from the Harry Potter guy. As a mystery, the movie is a complete failure in that it is obvious early on who did the killing. It doesn't matter, because the film is very strong as a horror comedy. It's Aja's most fully realized film to date, and it's arguable that it contains Radcliffe's best performance. (Available for rent on VOD, iTunes and Amazon.com during a limited theatrical release).