HORNS (18) stars Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe as he takes yet another turn from his childhood acting roots to play somewhat of a demon in the horror/thriller Horns. The movie is an interesting one with a scattered narrative and a lot of it you have to try and follow. So what I gathered was this –
Ig Perrish (Radcliffe) is in a seemingly perfect relationship with the seemingly perfect Merrin Williams (Juno Temple). When she is found murdered in the woods and the small town mentality is to blame the boyfriend after an argument in a diner, Ig finds himself at the anger of the small town. Defiantly stressing his innocence even his own family do not believe that he is not a murderer. Things change when, inexplicably, he starts to grow horns and things take a turn for the weird. As the horns grow, the people become more strange, it’s up to Ig to prove his innocence and find the killer.
This thriller/horror is uniquely original, in parts inspired, but in parts totally out there. Some dark humour underlies the main story which is actually quite shocking. The endgame reveal is a bit of a twist and a bit crazy too. Like The Woman In Black, I was reading in too much Harry Potter references – like when he befriends snakes and wears a yellow hoodie with a maroon top (Gryffindor colours). However, the movie itself isn’t bad and is desperately trying to reinvigorate the horror genre. The narrative, splashed with a lot of flash backs and current time sequences, all jump about making it a bit confusing to follow sometimes.
However, overall the movie is one that would be good to watch if you are at a loose end, but I don’t think you could watch it more than once. One cool thing to happen is a small character appearance by the ever gorgeous Heather Graham, but, as usual, is typecast – this time as a slutty, fame hungry waitress. A strong performance by Radcliffe and the cast, Horns is a unique, if weird, take on the horror/thriller genre.
Horns is out now on DVD, Blu Ray and all good streaming sites.
POPSCORE: 6.5/10
MAGGIE (15) stars Arnold Schwarzenegger in his return to the silver screen (or my console as I streamed this one through Wuaki) in Maggie. Backing up Arnie as the parent of titular character Maggie (played well by Abigail Breslin) is a strong cast with a surprise appearance by Joely Richardson.If I tell you what I would classify as a log line for this movie you would be quite excited.
Okay, here goes: When Wade Vogel (Arnie) finds out his daughter has been bitten by a zombie he goes all out to protect her until they can find a cure. Yep, like me, I bet you thought this would be The Terminator: Zombie Edition, but nope, it’s far from it. The movie is based around a caring father who dotes on his teenage daughter, and when she is infected to become zombiefied, he protects her from going into quarantine and looks after her while she is going through the changing process. The film is a massive departure from the rough and tumble Arnie we know, and is about as curveball as when we found out he was doing Twins with Danny Devito back in the early 90’s. Having said that Arnie does a solid performance as the trouble father while the immediate supporting cast fulfil their roles well. The balance between Wade and his wife – the understanding, sympathetic father and the scared, misunderstanding mother is a delicate balance played well by Richardson and Arnie. Abigail Breslin’s Maggie (of the title) is played well too.
There is a lot of quiet or scenes with lack of dialogue in it which create a more pensive tone – and a lot of these scene seem to replace dialogue and if you don’t get it, or miss it, the film seems to jump to continue the narrative. As it’s a bit unconventional this way it seems that the film doesn’t say very much in words but more in pictures – which is good in some respects but, it’s a movie and I’d like a bit more talking as we, the audience, are the ones that have to be quiet. The most annoying thing with it though is that there is an awful lot of what I call “natural camera” (you know the type where it’s like someone holding it and a bit wobbly) which can be distracting at times, especially in important or heartfelt sequences. It ends up giving the feel that there is literally someone following the characters with a camera – which would be okay if it was one of those found footage type movies, but it clearly isn’t.
Overall the movie isn’t fantastic but it shows Arnie has the potential to be a lot more than just an action hero, but now, in his later years, a serious actor too.
Maggie is out now on DVD, Blu Ray and all good streaming sites.
POPSCORE: 6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment