Horns Film

[Marguerite Litscher]

Hornsis a 2013 dark fantasy mystery comedy horror film directed by Alexandre Aja from a screenplay written by Keith Bunin, based on the 2010 novel by Joe Hill. It stars Daniel Radcliffe as a young man falsely accused of murdering his girlfriend, who uses his newly discovered paranormal abilities to uncover the real killer.

Ignatius "Ig" Perrish is the prime suspect when his girlfriend, Merrin Williams, is raped and murdered. Despite his declarations of innocence, he is shunned by the community. He visits his parents and brother, Terry, to hide from the press. After a vigil led by Merrin's father, who believes Ig to be guilty, Ig gets drunk, urinates on Merrin's memorial, and has a one-night stand with a friend. The next morning, he wakes up with a pair of horns protruding from his head. The horns have special powers that force people to tell Ig their darkest secrets and desires; at Ig's bidding, they act upon them.

While seeing his doctor about having the horns removed, Ig, under anesthesia, dreams of his childhood, when he first met Merrin. After noticing Merrin drop and break her necklace in church, a young Ig and his friends play with cherry bombs. Ig risks a dangerous dare to win a cherry bomb and nearly drowns, but is saved by Lee Tourneau, his childhood friend, who is now a lawyer. After learning that Lee has fixed Merrin's broken necklace, he gives the cherry bomb that he won to Lee in exchange for the necklace so that he can be the one to return it to Merrin. Lee loses two fingers when the cherry bomb goes off accidentally in his hand. Ig and Merrin bond over the fixed necklace and fall in love, frequenting a treehouse in the woods together.

Ig visits his parents and, under the horns' power, his mother reveals that she does not want him as her son and asks him to leave. His father tells him he is worthless without Merrin and his friend helps him burn down the lab where DNA tests were being conducted. As Ig heads to a bar, in the parking lot he goads the reporters into a brawl. He tries to find evidence proving that he did not kill Merrin from people in the bar. Several people confess their deepest and darkest secrets and the owner-bartender burns down the building to collect the insurance.

From one confession, Ig learns a new witness in the case is a waitress at the diner where Merrin broke up with him the night she died. Ig finds her and discovers she has been fabricating her stories to become famous. When Ig talks to Terry, he learns that Terry drove Merrin from the diner the night she died. When he touches Terry, Ig sees what happened that night: Merrin left the car en route to her home and ran into the woods. Terry passed out in the car and woke up the next morning with a bloody rock in his hand, finding Merrin dead under the treehouse. Afraid that he would be implicated, he fled. Infuriated, Ig assaults Terry until he is arrested by Officer Eric Hannity, who is another childhood friend. The next morning, Ig is released from jail with Lee's help. Ig notices Lee wearing Merrin's cross necklace and questions him about it. Lee insists there are things about him and Merrin that Ig never knew.

Later that night, Ig realizes snakes are following him wherever he goes and he uses them to exact vengeance against the waitress. Additionally, he gets Eric to act on his feelings for his police partner (who reciprocates his feelings) and forces Terry to overdose on drugs, causing Terry to be tormented by memories of Merrin's death. Ig meets Lee by the docks and pulls off Merrin's necklace. He realizes Lee was unable to see the horns because he was wearing the necklace. Exposed to the horns, Lee falls under their influence and admits to killing Merrin. In flashbacks, Lee was also in love with Merrin and was deeply jealous of Ig throughout their childhood. Lee followed Merrin into the woods, thinking that Merrin had been sending him signals for a long time and that she had broken up with Ig to be with him. When Merrin insisted that she loved Ig more than anyone in the world, Lee raped her in a jealous rage and killed her with a rock, stole her necklace, and planted the bloody rock on Terry. In the ensuing confrontation, Lee overpowers Ig and lights him on fire in his car, causing Ig to drive into the bay. Lee claims that Ig confessed to the crime and committed suicide. The horns allow Ig to survive, though horrifically burned and disfigured.

Merrin's father, who now believes that Ig is innocent, gives him the key to Merrin's lockbox. When Ig puts on Merrin's cross, his body is restored and the horns disappear. In the lockbox, he finds a note from Merrin explaining that she knew Ig was going to propose, but she was dying of cancer and did not want him to suffer, so she pushed him away under the pretense of loving someone else.

Ig confronts Lee, and leads him into the woods where Merrin was killed. Eric and Terry arrive to arrest Lee. Lee confesses to the murder, but then gleefully kills Eric and injures Terry. Ig tears off the necklace, sprouting a pair of wings and bursting into flame, transforming into a demonic monster. Despite Lee fatally wounding him, Ig impales Lee on one of his horns and telepathically forces a snake down Lee's throat, killing him. Saying that his vengeance was all-consuming, Ig dies from his injuries and his smoldering corpse turns to hardened ash, and he appears to be reunited with Merrin in the afterlife.

Explaining his initial interest in the project, Alexandre Aja said "After reading Joe Hill's cult book, I couldn't resist temptation to dive into the devilish underworld and reinvent a universal myth."[12]

Principal photography started late September 2012, in British Columbia.[13][14] The filming took place in Vancouver, Mission, Surrey and Squamish,[15][16] completing shooting in December 2012.[15][17]

The world premiere was held at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival,[18] The film was released in North America and the United Kingdom on October 31, 2014,[19][20] however the movie was also made available via digital download on iTunes as of October 6, 2014.[21]

Joe Hill, who wrote the novel the film is based on, praised Radcliffe's performance, calling it a "wrenching, vulnerable, emotionally naked performance that isn't like anything he's ever done on screen before. He is such a wonderful Ig Perrish".[26] John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter gave a positive review of the film, remarking, "While this all begins as a kind of supernatural black comedy ... the tone grows darker with each revelation".[27]

The Guardian scored the film two out of five stars, calling it "a Dogma-style mash-up of grim comedy and religious satire".[28] Eric Kohn of IndieWire wrote, "Predominantly a failure of tone, "Horns" has plenty of admirable traits and yet dooms itself from the outset. It's an admirable conceit stuffed into far less subtle material."[29] Peter Debruge of Variety sensed that the film "benefits from the helmer's twisted sensibility, but suffers from a case of overall silliness."[30] Jonathan Weichsel of MoreHorror.com stated that "The cast is all around terrific, especially Daniel Radcliffe who is nothing short of phenomenal, and the set pieces are entertaining in that wild, over the top way that only horror can pull off effectively."[31]

This is another Hollywood standard. When it comes to creating drama and tension, clusters are usually the first thing in. Clusters are simply 4 or 5 (or more) part harmonies in close voicing; usually 2nds. Although these are very effective with the strings, the horns are just as popular when it comes to using this effect. The horns can make great cues when the cluster is used with the crescendo. The Matrix Trilogy (among many other films) is littered with this effect.

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here.

The inconsistencies of Horns are not an uncommon occurrence in film as of late. It comes with the territory of making a genre film, and at the same time trying to turn that same genre on its head. Horns, based on the novel of the same name by Joe Hill, son of Stephen King, entangles itself with a story that is just dark enough that it feels the need to prove how dark it is, but also to alleviate that darkness with either wit or humor or something else.

Boston, Massachusetts: Evan has been with TYF since 2013 and has been editor of the Video Games section since 2016. Passionate for research, in-depth analysis, collaboration, and videography, Evan has overseen multimedia content for events from Tribeca Film Festival to E3 and Penny Arcade Expo.

Adaptational Heroism: Several characters come across as more sympathetic than their book counterparts - notably Terry who, in the book, was aware of the identity of Merrin's killer and knowingly concealed it and Lee Tourneau, who's nowhere near the villain level of Lee in the book. Aerith and Bob: The Perrish brothers; Ignatius and... Terry. Anti-Hero: Ig. Armoured Closet Gay: Ig's former friend Eric, who was a homophobe even in childhood, is revealed to be gay and mutually attracted to the also-closeted cop he's partnered with. Asshole Victim: The waitress who lied about seeing Ig drag Merrin into his car the night she died to get on television in hopes it will be a springboard into stardom is the first person he goes after when he embraces the horns, ruining her looks by sending a den of snakes to bite her face repeatedly. Also Lee, who raped and murdered Merrin in a fit of jealous rage and when he confesses to the crime he then gleefully murders Eric, injures Terry and mortally wounds Ig. He meets his end when the fully empowered Ig impales him with his horns, then sends a snake to slither though the hole and force its way down his throat. Atomic F-Bomb: Ig lets out three of these in a row after Lee lies that Merrin left him because they were in love with each other, each one longer than the last. Bad Powers, Good People: Ig grows horns, controls snakes, and literally brings out the worst in people, but he uses these to find and punish Merrin's killer. Bedmate Reveal: Ig wakes up with Glenna after she drags him away from Merrin's memorial. Big Brother Instinct: Part of Terry's drug usage after Merrin's death is spurred by his lack of this - namely, numbing the guilt he feels for not coming to Ig's defense because what he knows implicates him instead. By the end of the movie, he's this in full force, to the point of taking a shotgun to the leg and holding Ig's demonic form as he dies. Big Red Devil: Ig's devilish appearance gets an upgrade after he's set on fire, with most of his skin burned red and black. Bittersweet Ending: Ig is reunited with Merrin's spirit in some sort of afterlife, after clearing his own name. Black Is Bigger in Bed: A female patient waiting to see the doctor along with Ig is the first person to blurt out any dirty secret reveals she's sleeping with her black golf trainer and adds gleefully that he's well-endowed. He briefly sees her memory of her going at it with him very pleasurably. Book Ends: The film begins and ends with the same scene of Ig and Merrin together. Brick Joke: When heading to his usual bar, Ig is hounded by reporters desperate for a big break, so he tells them that he'll grant an exclusive interview with whichever reporter manages to beat the shit out of the others. They start doing so with gusto, allowing him to enter the bar freely. When he comes out and gets into his car, the last reporter standing quietly says "But... my interview." Devil's Pitchfork: Ig carries around a pitchfork for a good portion of the film, aiding to his devil ensemble. Drowning My Sorrows: Ig has become quite the alcoholic since Merrin's death, and his getting blackout drunk that night is part of why he questions if he did kill her. And while his brother is The Stoner, he's gotten much worse in his usage because he was the last person to see Merrin alive - and is convinced he was the one to do it, also while blackout drunk. Entitled to Have You: Lee felt this way towards Merrin and even thought she broke up with Ig to be with him. Merrin adamantly repeating that she only loves Ig is what causes him snap and murder her. Fiery Cover-Up: The lab with the physical evidence from the murder is burnt down. It's later shown that his father called in a favor to do it, believing the evidence would implicate his son. Foreshadowing: In the first scene, when Ig promises he'll love Merrin for as long as he lives, she tells him just to love her for as long as she lives. The fact that Lee is the only one who "believes" Ig didn't murder Merrin is a bit of a red flag. Glass Cannon: Ig is this, at least in the film. Even when he's in full-on demon mode, summoning snakes, big horns and Super-Strength, and despite being super hard to kill, things seem to cause as much pain and damage to Ig as they would any normal human. Lee nearly beats him to death in their first altercation, and mortally wounds him in the second. God Is Flawed: Ig resents that with all her faith, and with all her goodness, God did not protect Merrin from dying horribly. Good Is Not Nice: Despite being more of an anti-hero, Ig is by no means bad. His methods of interrogation are often morally questionable and unpleasant, but it's all for the sake of solving his girlfriend's murder. Green-Eyed Monster: Lee is resentful of Ig for winning Merrin's heart, which he openly admits during their scuffle. Held Gaze: Merrin first catches Ig's attention in church by flashing light in his face so he'll look up and see her staring at him. I Love the Dead: Although it doesn't actually happen, the lying waitress makes her story more salacious by claiming that Ig had anal intercourse with Merrin after killing her. I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Ig eventually finds a letter from Merrin explaining their breakup. She's dying of the same kind of cancer that killed her mother, and decided to push him away to spare him the pain of watching her die slowly and horribly. She hopes he'd find another girl and move on before realizing the truth.. After Glenna admits to Ig that she's always loved him but knew he would never love her back, he gently tells her that she should go to New York to find the right person for her. Love Triangle: Lee and Ig both love Merrin, but she only has eyes for Ig. This becomes a major plot point. Glenna, Merrin and Ig also counts. Meaningful Name: Ignatius literally means "fiery one." Memento MacGuffin: Merrin's cross, which belonged to her mother first. It's the first clue that Lee had killed Merrin, and it also keeps him from seeing Ig's horns. Later, it lets Ig return to his human form after he'd suffered burns that made him look like a Big Red Devil. A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Ig's horns cause others to blurt out their innermost thoughts with little provocation - he's really hurt by what his parents have to say. Missing Mom: Merrin's mother died of cancer in her childhood, which she doesn't like to talk about. This becomes relevant later-it turns out to be hereditary, so she gets the same kind. Punished with Ugly: Ig decides to punish the lying waitress (one of the few witnesses to his last interaction with Merrin) by having snakes repeatedly bite her, damaging her vanity and taking away her chance at fame from being a star witness in his murder trial. Red Right Hand: Lee Tourneau, the villain of the film, lacks two fingers on one hand. Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Everybody believes Ig killed Merrin and that his family's money saved him from justice. Including his family, who paid to "save" him from justice. Secret Test of Character: Potentially invoked in Ig's first post-horns encounter with Merrin's father; while the man says that he wants to shoot Ig for killing Merrin, by that point Ig has gained enough experience of the horns to realise that, if the other man actually did want to shoot Ig, he would have done it already. Secretly Dying: Merrin had late-stage breast cancer when she was murdered. She only left Ig to spare him the trauma of watching her die. Talking Is a Free Action: At least two characters spill their guts to Ig while he's actively assaulting or trying to kill them. Touch Telepathy: One of Ig's abilities is being able to peer into someone's memories if he's touching them. Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: The little girl at the doctor's office spends most of her screen time screaming and smashing the waiting room toys, then tells Ig she hates her mother wants to burn her alive with matches while she's sleeping. Vengeance Feels Empty: Merrin's father prayed every day for Ig to die when it's believed that he killed her. When Ig was believed to have committed suicide, he states that it didn't help one bit. The Unfavorite: Ig's father admits under the influence of the horns that he's always been closer to Ig's brother, because they share a passion for music. Both parents admit that, with Ig's murder trial, they both wish he'd just go away. Unlucky Childhood Friend: Glenna to Ig. She admits to him that she knew she could never compare to Merrin. Also Lee to Merrin, which ultimately ends in her death. Wall Bang Her: Ig has sex with Merrin against a tree.

3a8082e126