Horns Movie Review

Genre – Horror/Fantasy, Drama, Book to movie adaptation

Director – Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes)

Cast – Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple, Max Minghella, Joe Anderson, Kelli Garner, Michael Adamthwaite

Alluring element – Daniel Radcliffe officially shaking off the remains of Harry Potter and turning into a devil, both literally and figuratively to avenge the murder of his girlfriend. I’m so in.

 

Scorecard:

Plot – 8

Acting – 10

Representation of Genre – 6

Cinematography – 9

Effects/Environment – 8

Captivity – 7

Logical consistency – 7

Originality/Creativity – 9

Soundtrack/Music – 8

Overall awesomeness – 8

 

 

I think the only fair way to start my review of Horns is with a disclaimer. Well, two disclaimers really. First, I read the book Horns and thoroughly enjoyed it, but because of that I spent a lot of time watching the movie waiting for elements of the book to appear, and then trying to figure out if I liked the book or the movie. Or both. Second, I love Daniel Radcliffe. LOVE HIM. To me, he can do no wrong. However, I worked really hard to separate myself from that so I can give Horns a fair review. So, with that being said, I’ll get to it.

Horns is the story of Iggy Perish (Daniel Radcliffe) and his journey to find the person who killed the girl he loves. All the while he is the number one suspect and, for whatever reason, he woke up one morning with horns growing out of his head a la Satan. Of course the horns are not merely cosmetic, they cause the people Iggy comes in contact with to reveal their most horrible truths to him, as well as their darkest secrets and desires and then ask his permission to act on them. And naturally they give Ig the inclination to give in to his more evil urges as well which enables him to find his beloved’s killer all the more easily.

Joe Hill’s Horns is honestly my type of love story, and I’m really not a fan of love stories. It’s dark, the love is overpowering and insecure, and the happy ending is definitely one side of a double edged sword. The story takes place in our universe, but with a fantastical twist. Granted, there is a strong basis of Christianity in the story, but as opposed to taking a side on religion, it merely uses its elements for fantasy’s sake. A cross necklace does play an important role, but so does the devil and frankly he’s portrayed in a pretty favorable light.

The movie really tells a great story, but unfortunately it stutters in its flow and spends too much time on some less crucial elements which causes important plot points to suffer. A lot of energy was spent flashing back to the love story between Iggy and his dearly departed Merrin (Juno Temple), and while those scenes are beautifully shot and full of heart they may have sucked up too much time. Iggy is the only character in the movie who is really fully developed, everyone else has very little screen time and their introductions and explanations are rushed. This might not be a problem in a full on romance about the gooey love between just two people, but it does cause Horns to suffer a little because it’s a murder mystery. By the time the reveal of the real killer came around, it felt a little weak because as little as each of the side characters were shown it basically could have been anyone, as there was no motive or background given for anyone.

At times, the dialogue feels unnatural and the actors have to say things it seems no person would ever say in real life, but other than those moments the movie is extremely well acted. I assure you it is not my bias talking when I say that Daniel Radcliffe was captivating. I love Harry Potter more than the next guy, but so far this is the best performance I’ve seen from Radcliffe. He’s vulnerable, angry, scared and downright wicked. Anything that the movie Horns itself may have lacked, he single-handedly made up for.

Overall, Horns is absolutely worth seeing. It’s really beautifully shot and the scenery is just gorgeous. The love story is sweet and cruel, the fantasy and comedy elements hit hard and leave a lasting impression. I left the theater unsure about what to think about it but the movie stuck with me, which I think is a mark of what makes it good. I wasn’t sure at certain points while I was watching it, but I kept thinking about it and picturing it after it was over and it left me with one of those beautiful melancholy feelings. The more I relive it, the more I want to go and see it again.

So Far this Week… February 12, 2014

With the expansion of Hush Comics, we have decided to give bi-weekly news updates.  Anything we find news-worthy will be posted here bi-weekly.  Have anything to add?  Post it in the comments!

R.I.P., Shirley Temple. May the afterlife be full of maraschino cherries and lemon-lime soda.

Jimmy Palmiotti, DC Comics writer, is trying to launch an independent graphic novel through Kickstarter called, get this, Denver. Set in a future where Denver remains the last city in a world submerged by water (now tell me Global warming isn’t real!), Denver is about a whole new type of apocalypse. Check out this interview detailing the process.

If you weren’t sold on a Tarzan reboot that star’s Alexander Skarsgard, Samuel L Jackson and Christoph Waltz, the inclusion of The Wolf of Wall Street‘s Margot Robbie as Jane will have your jaw on the ground and your wallet in the air.

Speaking of Sam Jackson, this BAMF went all Black History Month on Sam Rubin during a TV interview for mistaking a commercial Laurence Fishburne did as Jackson’s. While I think that Rubin was just a victim of circumstance – the circumstance being that he told the angriest black man in Hollywood that he looks like another famous black man, it sheds some light on the portrayal of black celebrities among the media. Do you remember when George Stephanopoulos mistook Celtics’ legend Bill Russell for Morgan Freeman?

The hilarious Englishman John Oliver or Daily Show and Community fame will be getting his own HBO show called Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. It sounds like it will be the same format as Jon Stewart’s show, but with more foul language and obscenities – just the way we like it.

The Protector 2, starring Muy Thai legend and actor Tony Jaa, will be released March 27th (date varies). If you don’t know who Tony Jaa is, take ten minutes out of your day to watch this. This guy is 38 years old and still kicking ass. Oh yeah, Wu-Tang legend The RZA will also be acting in the film!

All-New Ghost Rider is coming out in May, and it’s not the Johnny Blaze we know. Check out this feature on the amazing new approach to a classic Marvel character.

For people looking for a reason to cut out cable/dish, Apple TV may be releasing a version that can stream live TV. I’m pretty skeptical, but it sounds like we’re on the right track.

Stephen King’s It was one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen. Alright, I have have been seven when I saw it – give me a break. A reboot has been in the works for almost two years, but director Cary Fukunaga (True Detective) has confirmed that it’s happening.

Now that Nikita is over, lead actress Maggie Q has found a new gig as a Chinese pirate queen Ching Shih in the limited series Red Flag. Shih was a real pirate in the 1800’s who rose through the ranks as a prostitute (they don’t call ’em working girls for nothing). This is in addition to her role of Tori Wu in the upcoming film-adaptation of Divergent.

Guess what Batman: Arkham Origins fans? WB Games has heard your complaints, and they don’t care about your problems. They’re too busy making the next Mr. Freeze DLC. It’s an added frustration to a game that has been riddled (get it?) with issues since it launched in October.

Mob City no mo.’  The TNT mini-series centered around mob life in LA during the 30’s and 40’s has been cancelled. It bums me out because John Bernthal (Shane from The Walking Dead) and friends acted their butts off in this noir Frank Darabont production, and I felt the show could have gone a lot further if renewed.

DC Comics and Robot Chicken are teaming up, once again, to release DC Comics Special: Villains in Paradise. There will also be accompanying variants for special DC Comics issues in March. Check em out here.

There have been several additional castings for Fox’s Gotham show, including: Alfred Pennyworth, Oswald Cobblepot (Penguin), Captain Sarah Essen (Gordon’s coworker and eventual spouse), and Barbara Kean (Gordon’s spouse-to-be and soon ex-spouse).

In the upcoming Flash series (just a pilot at this point), Tom Cavanagh will play Harrison Wells, genius physicist of S.T.A.R. Labs. It’s a huge jump from his portrayal as the title character of Ed, or as JD’s brother in Scrubs, but I think it’s a good call. Also, the original Flash from the 1970’s series will be making an appearance on the show. Our bet is that he will play the first Flash, Jay Garrick.

They just can’t let How I Met Your Mother go. A lead character has been cast for the spin-off, titled How I Met Your Dad. With HIMYM ending on March 31, I think it’s too soon to be moving on to a spin-off.

Joss Whedon and Co. have begun filming Avengers: Age of Ultron, slated to hit theaters in May 2015.

New York’s Fashion Week displayed some of the freshest dresses this side of the galaxy. Check out the Star Wars-themed dresses here.

Would you sleep with Scarlett Johansson, even if it meant being trapped in goo and preyed on by an alien? What, did I lose you after “Johansson?” Well then, you might want to check out Under the Skin, coming to theaters everywhere April 11. Leave you girlfriends at home.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, along with their 50/50 director Jonathan Levine, will reunite to bring holiday cheer back to the world in Xmas.

Yee-haw! Star Wars fans, saddle up and get ready for Kanan, the cowboy Jedi (although, aren’t they all space cowboys?). Voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr., Kanan will debut in the upcoming Disney animated series, Star Wars: Rebels.

 

Written by Sherif Elkhatib

Graphic Novel Review – Locke and Key Volume One: Welcome to Lovecraft

Graphic Novel Review: Locke & Key, Volume One: Welcome to Lovecraft

Collecting: Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft #1-6

Original Release Date: 2008

Publisher: IDW Comics

Characters: The Lockes (Tyler, Kinsey, Bode, Nina), Sam Lesser

Writer: Joe Hill

Artist: Gabriel Rodriguez

SCORECARD (each category ranked on a 10-point scale):

Storyline – 8

Art – 8

Captivity and Length – 9

Identity – 10

Use of Medium – 8

Depth – 10

Fluidity – 7

Intrigue/Originality –10

The Little Things – 9

Overall awesomeness – 8

In the wake of Halloween, I found it only fitting to review one of the best Horror/Mystery comics of all time, Locke & Key. Having read it for the first time before reviewing it, there was a lot of hype for these books to live up to, as it has garnered quite the cult following amongst avid readers – yet, at the same time, not many comic book readers I know read the series. What I will try to give you is my opinion from the point of view of a person that just loves good stories, whether they have pictures or not. If being connected to previous comics or superheroes is a must for you, then I can already tell you that this will not be the book for you. Sometimes, you need to let go of all you came into reading with and just experience something new.

Welcome to Lovecraft introduces us to a family recovering from tragedy. The Lockes have just moved across the country to Keyhouse, a large manor that they used as a summer home in Lovecraft, Massechutesetts. This is all fallout from when the father in the family, Rendell, was shot in the face by one of his students, also a classmate of Tyler’s, Sam Lesser. At first, it seems like just another crazy murder, but as we find out, Keyhouse is more than it appears to be. Bode, the youngest of the family, finds out that you can turn into a ghost by walking through a certain door. No joke, he dies and becomes a spirit – at will.

The story can be a bit difficult to follow at first, especially since most of the first issue shoots back between flashbacks and the present day, but it becomes easier once the backstory has been built. While it is innately a horror book, there is plenty of humor to keep the mood light when people aren’t being murdered. Bode’s time as a ghost crosses the genre from horror to fantasy, as he experiences the spirit state with child-like naivety, and is one of the best parts of the book. We also get a good chance to bond with the new characters, a nod to some great writing of internal monologue from a family that has just had their father murdered. But, like in any great horror story, something that starts out cute and innocent turns out to be the doom of them all. Bode’s innocent friend Echo ends up having a mystical connection with Sam, Rendell Locke’s murderer. And he is coming back for more.

I frequently found myself wondering what the hell was going on, not because of bad writing or story-telling, but simply because I had never experienced anything like this before. The writing made me love the good guys and hate the bad guys, although at one point you can’t help but have sympathy for the pawn, Sam Lesser. The art in Locke & Key is very straight-forward and portrays the people in the story with proportional figures and adequately gross horror scenes. Gabriel Rodriguez hasn’t won any awards yet, but he does a fantastic job of portraying what the story is trying to narrate.

At the end of the day, I challenge you to find a better horror graphic novel out there. The depth of fantasy and story-telling elements help to balance the violence and terror in the story, engaging readers but never making them too afraid to connect to the reverie of what is happening. There are keys that let you go through different doors all over the world, a plot point that I couldn’t wait to be explored in future chapters. Locke & Key is proof that not all great comics need capes and cowls, but rather just a great story and the right artist to paint the picture.

General Reception: Locke & Key has found quite the cult following among readers. It’s a fun ride, and legitimately frightening in the art and story-telling aspects. Take your chances on the critically acclaimed series that has an Eisner Award for Best Writing attached to it. They’ve even tried making a television series of the book; a trailer can be found below. FOX axed the series (no surprises there) in 2011, but Locke & Key has since been revived by Universal and a full-length film is in development.

Related Books: After finishing Welcome to Lovecraft, I would recommend jumping right into the second book, Head Games. Other good horror comics on the market right now are: The Wake by Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy, The Walking Dead (although I don’t consider this a horror series anymore) by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard,  American Vampire by Scott Synder and the Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

More by the writer: It helps when your writer is actually a novelist. And it helps when that novelist is the son of the King of Horror, Stephen King. Joe Hill has written several award winning horror books and short stories, among them: 20th Century Ghosts, Heart-Shaped Box, and his best-selling novel that was just published in April 2013, NOS4A2 (Nosferatu, get it?). While he has written a couple of other one-shot comics, he has been almost exclusively dedicated to Locke & Key since its inception in 2008.

More by the artist: Like Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez really hasn’t done much else in terms of big projects, although he has drawn a number of other IDW comics, including: Transformers and CSI. His style actually reminded me a little bit of Chris Burnham’s Batman: Incorporated, a style that I feel did not work as well for Batman as it did here.

*Screenshots taken directly from comic book using Comixology app. Credit to IDW Comics for the images.

Written by Sherif Elkhatib