Horns is 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.
Horns premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and was theatrically released in the United States on October 31, 2014, to mixed reviews.
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.
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.
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.
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.
[9][10] The band seen backing up Joe Anderson's character on lead trumpet is The Brass Action from Vancouver, British Columbia.
[11] 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.
The site's critical consensus says "Horns is a bit of a tonal jumble, but it offers enough thoughtful horror-comedy—and strong work from Daniel Radcliffe—to hook genre enthusiasts.
[27] 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".
[29] Eric Kohn of IndieWire wrote, "Predominantly a failure of tone, "Horns" has plenty of admirable traits and yet dooms itself from the outset.
"[30] Peter Debruge of Variety sensed that the film "benefits from the helmer's twisted sensibility, but suffers from a case of overall silliness.
"[31] 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.