The Boy Who Lived now all grown up

Film review: Horns

MANILA, Philippines - It’s a tough sell. A grown-up Harry Potter. Not really Harry but Daniel Radcliffe, the boy who played him across seven or eight films based on the books written by J.K. Rowling. The big catch on this success is that the stories ended and Radcliffe grew up. He has since then been trying to make the necessary transition from the Boy Who Lived to grown-up actor.

This is not easy. Although realistically, there is no way he should be expected to duplicate Harry Potter’s box-office record. But Radcliffe still has to make his mark on his own. He has so far played the beat poet Allan Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings, gone gothic in The Woman in Black, sang in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and stripped in Equus on Broadway. Interesting choices but nothing career-defining.

For his latest screen outing Radcliffe has chosen to return to the supernatural and sprout horns. You know horns as in goat, faun, satyr, demon. This is for Horns, the picture based on the fun and engrossing novel of the same title by Joe Hill, son of the horror story master Stephen King. Why he grows the cranial appendages is not clear but their effect is. It is like the opposite of Pinocchio’s nose. His proboscis makes Pinocchio tell the truth. These horns make other people tell the truth.

What goes on in people’s minds in this civilized times can be funny, hurtful or horrifying. What does a mother really want to do with her crying baby? Kick it across the room. What about the bartender who secretly wants to burn his bar down. Two closeted cops admit to being attracted to each other. A doctor is offering up pain killers. And worse of all, parents who act loving and supportive but actually believe the worst about their son in their hearts.

Radcliffe plays Ig Parrish, a young man suspected of raping and murdering his childhood sweetheart Merrin and then leaving her body in the woods. His guilt has never been proven so he remains free. But in the eyes of the town he is the killer who got away with his crime. This thinking acquires some truth when he grows horns on his forehead. Gasp! A devil is indeed among us. But Ig discovers the power of his horns and resolves to use it to find Merrin’s murderer.

What Radcliffe has going for him is his confidence before the camera.  Thanks to those years as Potter, he is totally at ease being photographed. As a result he attacks his role with abandon and comes out totally believable, even in something as preposterous as Horns. As truth descends with varied effects on the entire town, Ig, again thanks to his Potter image, is cleansed in the eyes of the audience, until it seems like he is the only honest man alive.

Director Alexandre Aja took on a quite a handful in Horns. The story is spread out in various moods from idyllic romance to mystery to outright horror.  He worked it out very well skillfully changing tones without losing his footing. His deft handling of red herrings, revelations and flashbacks keeps the viewer attentive throughout. Horns is almost as good as his iconic The Hills Have Eyes and far, far better than his Piranha.

He should also be commended for his casting. There are solid performances all around. Special mention goes to David Morse who is most affecting as Merrin’s grieving father who believes that the boy he loved like a son killed his daughter. There is also Heather Graham as the waitress who would lie through her teeth just to be in the news and to hell with who gets hurt.

Radcliffe, of course, is the star of the movie and he is one fantastic performer. Drunk, raging, foul-mouthed, eyes a-blazing, he cuts a truly tragic figure. The boy has matured into an actor. It takes a lot of effort but I am sure he will also soon be able to ditch Harry Potter.