Re:Visiting – ‘Horns’ (2013)

In 2010, writer Joe Hill – son of Stephen King and author of a number of fine books including Heartshaped Box and NOS4R2 – released his second novel Horns. A dark and twisted fantasy tale about a young man who in the aftermath of his girlfriend’s murder, wakes up hungover one morning with Devil horns growing from his head. The horns provide him with a telepathic connection over everyone he meets, and he uses his strange new gift in order to try and unravel the mystery of his lovers death. While also aiming to clear his own name – as it is assumed by many in his home-town that he is guilty of her killing.

Three years later, director Alexandre Aja (Piranha 3D / Crawl) would bring Hill’s story to life with a highly faithful film adaptation of the story. Perfectly capturing the tone of the novel to create a memorable fantasy-thriller, with plenty of dark-humour. Horns features a fine performance in the lead role by Harry Potter himself – Daniel Radcliffe. The English actor was at a cross-roads in his career directly following his portrayal of the child wizard – which began with The Philosopher’s Stone (2001) when he was just eleven years old, and would continue for a decade and eight movies – culminating with The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011).

And so would begin his professional post–Potter life. First of all taking the left-field step of moving into the Horror genre, with his starring role in the Victorian-Gothic Hammer Horrors remake of The Woman In Black (2012). The change of genre highlighted Radcliffe’s credentials as an impressive character actor, seamlessly slipping into the role of a young solicitor haunted by a strange and mysterious malevolent entity. It also highlighted his desire to choose roles which would start to distance him from his typecasting as the young wizard. A diversity highlighted in the following year as he would take on the role of the poet Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings – before tackling the complex character of Ig Perrish in Horns.

At the heart of Hill’s tale is a love-story between Ig and Merrin Williams (Juno Temple – Killer Joe) – a pure connection which begins when they are just young teenagers. The innocence of their first meeting in church one Sunday is shown in flashback, with the movie jumping back and forth between different time periods – sticking closely to Hill’s source material with the entwined-linear of the narrative aiding in the suspense and mystery of the overall story. The film does however make necessary changes in order to allow the story to flow a little quicker for its two-hour runtime. In doing so it emits one or two characters as well as a number of scenes from the novel. But many of Hills chapters are faithfully recreated by Aja, including an emotional meeting in a diner between Ig and Merrin.

For anyone who enjoys the movie, diving into Hill’s novel in order to experience the richer character back-stories, as well as a greater exploration of the narrative’s main themes comes highly recommended. Horns explores the juxtaposition between good and evil, with strong religious undertones and an exploration into the meaning of the devil and his influence on life. Ig initially rejects the horns – believing them to be a manifestation of an illness that only he can see. But as he comes into contact with others he soon realises that they too can see the horns, and he discovers the strange new power he possesses. The story shows us that behind the facade every human harbours dark thoughts and desires – and these will be confessed to Ig by the people he meets.

This intriguing concept from Hill makes for thoroughly engaging viewing, as we anticipate just how disgraceful these desires may be – with the various characters sinful thoughts often manifesting in an appetite for sex or violence. There are certainly some scenes which shock in Horns, a reflection of a novel that travels to some pretty bleak and disturbing places at times. While both mediums also convey a sickly dark-humour – such is the magic of Joe Hill’s fantasy writing, and his seamless ability of blending the dark with the light. And with the imagery of the horns, of serpents and fire, both the novel and the film convey a distinctly un-subtle tone as they convey their message. And it is an enjoyable journey as we observe Ig travelling deeper into his devilish metamorphosis … while edging closer to the truth of the events that changed his life. KZ

Words by Mark Bates