'Horns' Release Date Arrives, Review of Daniel Radcliffe's Supernatural Movie
"Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe stars in the supernatural rape and murder mystery film "Horns" which hits theaters on Friday, Oct. 31.
The film by French director Alexandra Aja stars Radcliffe as Ig Perrish, a young man who is being accused of raping and murdering his girlfriend Merrin Williams, portrayed by Juno Temple.
Ig ends up drunk one night and awakens the next morning to see horns growing out of the top of his head, which gives him the ability to compel people to tell the truth. Ig decides to use his powers to figure out what really happened to his girlfriend.
Aja worked with screenwriter Keith Bunin, who based the script on the novel of the same name written by Joe Hill, son of writers Stephen and Tabitha King.
"Horns" is co-produced in Canada and the U.S. and was filmed in Squamish, Mission and Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada.
Radcliffe and Temple are joined by Max Minghella, Joe Anderson, Kelli Garner, Heather Graham and David Morse.
Radcliffe shared some details about the film, including the horns he wore and the snakes, during an interview with The Telegraph.
"Horns is about loss and about being an outsider and losing the love of your life," Radcliffe said
He spoke about the religious imagery depicted in the film, saying he didn't think audiences will be offended despite an early scene where Radcliffe's character Ig crushes a statue of the Virgin Mary and pees on some candles of remembrance.
Radcliffe also shared that it took two effects guys, both named Mike, 20 minutes to attach the horns, usually to a soundtrack accompaniment of Metallica and Megadeth. The snakes shown in the film were not due to CGI effects but were filmed with live snakes, which Radcliffe enjoyed.
"You're totally projecting human emotions on to them, but mine was very sweet," Radcliffe said of a snake that he had grown fond of which was wrapped around his neck during the shoot.
Radcliffe also complimented the script and defended the film's ending during an interview with The Globe and Mail.
"The script was one of the most original I'd ever read," Radcliffe said. "I like stories that take things we all relate to – broken-heartedness, loss, feeling like an outsider – and deal with them in an extreme, original, different way."
When asked about the ending, Radcliffe said people told him they were "weirded out by it." In the film Ig was said to have burned to death but he actually lived and entered a tree house that appeared beyond the flames to see Merrin and a wedding party waiting for him.
Radcliffe simply stated "You just watched two hours of craziness. Did you not expect it to have a crazy ending?"
"Horns" was first unveiled at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival before being released in a limited number of theaters nearly 14 months after its world premiere. It can also be accessed through video-on-demand.
