Are you feeling Horny baby?

Taylor:

Horns directed by Alexandre Aja, Writen by Keith Bunin adapted from a book written by Joe Hill. Staring Daniel Radcliffe, Max Minghella, and Juno Temple is a supernatural mystery of sorts in the same vein as Odd Thomas, or John Dies at the End.

The film starts by establishing the relationship between Ig (Daniel Radcliffe) and Merrin (Juno Temple) which is intimate and intense, after a fairly neat shot that takes us seemingly through the earth we flash forward in time and learn that Ig is now alone, drinking heavily and the prime suspect in Marrins murder.  His family is outwardly supportive and believes he is innocent but Ig can't help but feel like a burden, we are also introduced to Ig's Lawer Lee played by Max Minghella who seems to be the only member of the small Washington town who believes Ig is innocent.  After a clunky (and awkward) candlelight vigil scene where Merrins father professes his hatred of Ig and wishes for his death Ig wakes up and discovers that there are now horns growing out of his head.

We learn he has spent the night with local floozy and childhood friend Glenna who seems to be aware of the horns but doesn't care or pay them any attention she is much more concerned with getting Igs permission to eat six donuts for breakfast.  At this point the plot of the movie comes to a halt and we are treated to 3 or 4 scenes of people asking for Igs permission to do bad things, a young mother wishes she could leave her loud uncivilized child at the doctors office, the receptionist at the doctors office wishes she could scream at the mother for not controlling her child better etc etc.  He visits the doctor to have the horns sawn off and while under anesthesia we see a flashback of Ig and Marrin meeting at church, after service Marrin left her cross on a pew. Ig recovers it and gives it to Lee for repairs. Lee has also noticed Marrin and wants to be the one to give her the cross back Ig eventually trades Lee a cherry bomb for the cross and thus wins Marrins heart.

Ig eventually discovers that his horns are acting as a sort of truth serum and goes on the hunt for clues about Marrins death along the way learning the identity of a new witness who is coming forward to testify against him as well as how burdensome and disappointed his parents are in him

I think I'll leave part 2 to my sister to sum up but would like her thoughts on the setup for the film.

Personally, I think the movie started off very strong but there is very little attention paid  to the "why" of everything.  Why do the horns compel people to admit to their darkest secrets to Ig, Why doesn't Lee see the horns (oh yeah, Lee is the only one who can't see Ig's giant obvious set of horns).  Why the horns at all.

Amelia:

Agreed that the "why" is not discussed or revealed in any way. Why Ig has horns at all is what I was getting hung up on, as well as why can everyone see them but nobody seems to think it's all that strange? I finally just decided to assume that this was something perhaps more clear in the novel and just translated poorly to screen (or maybe it wasn't explored in the novel either? - I didn't read it).  It certainly leaves an element of intrigue though and left me wondering what is really happening and why? In my attempts to "figure it out" I think I contrived clues and themes that weren't really there.  For example, I was trying to figure out if each person Ig talked to that made confessions to him were representative of the 7 deadly sins (Lust for the police officers, Envy for his dad, Pride for his mother, etc.) but that never really came together. I also came up with an theory as to why Lee was the only one that didn't seem to see the horns - he was the only one that believed Ig was innocent, while everyone who thought he was guilty (basically everybody else) saw the horns (they see what they want to see, kind of thing).  Of course that led me to wondering WHY Lee believed him when nobody else did (which turned out to be painfully predictable and obvious... discussed below).  Also, the actual explanation for why Lee didn't see the horns was, in my opinion, much more lame than my guess, but we'll get to that. I agree that the movie started really well and quickly built up interest and intrigue, with vibrantly colorful shots, fun camera pans, and pretty fantastic performances from our main characters.  Let's discuss part 2...

As time carries on - although a strict time-line is not established, I assumed this was all happening over the course of several days to a week or two - Ig's horns get longer and his "powers" grow stronger. Ig uses whatever means necessary to learn the truth about Marrin's murder, confronting anyone he thinks might have information. He is also now carrying a pitchfork and being followed around by snakes that he can seemingly control, which he uses to attack the waitress after she admits she is telling lies to the police in order to become famous and "be on tv".  Ig meets with Lee and notices that he's wearing the cross necklace that belonged to Marrin, which perturbs Ig and he pulls it off Lee's neck. As soon as the necklace is removed, Lee can suddenly see Ig's horns, and it is implied that the necklace was "protection" from Ig.  Ig ends up trying to fight Lee, and during their fight, Ig sees into Lee's memory and finds out that he actually raped and murdered Marrin after finding out that Marrin did not in fact break up with Ig to be with him. Lee planted the rock he used to kill Marrin with in Terry's car and then ran off. When we snap out of the memory flashback, Ig is overcome with anger but does not get the upper hand on Lee, who repeatedly beats him with a heavy chain until Ig can no longer fight back.  He then drags Ig into his car, pours gasoline all over him, and sets him on fire.  Ig reacts by driving his car off the dock into the water. Lee tells the media that Ig committed suicide out of guilt over Marrin's murder and the entire town believes it.

In the next scene, however, Ig emerges from the water, terribly burnt but seemingly able-bodied. He visits Marrin's father, who is now convinced that Ig was not responsible for his daughter's death, and is given a key that unlocks a secret box in the tree-house. Ig also tries to return Marrin's cross necklace but Marrin's father suggests that Ig should wear it instead.  Ig places the necklace around his neck and instantly his burnt skin is healed and his horns vanish.  Ig visits the tree-house and finds a letter from Marrin in the locked box, which reveals she was dying from an aggressive form of cancer, the same that killed her mother, and only broke up with Ig to save him from the pain that she witnessed her dad experiencing during her mother's decline and death. After this discovery, Ig confronts Lee who again confesses to the murder of Marrin and is then arrested by Eric who was with Terry, presumably hiding until the confession was given.  Lee pretends to cooperate, but ends up trying to steal Eric's gun and escape.  In the scuffle, Terry is shot non-fatally in the leg and Eric has his head blown off. Ig realizes that something more needs to be done in order to take care of Lee, so he takes off the necklace and immediately sprouts horns again, grows wings, and is then engulfed in flame that turns him into some kind of demonic, devilish creature, that bleeds lava when Lee tries to shoot and kill him.  He summons the snakes which he uses to constrict Lee, and eventually one snake punctures Lee's skin and slithers through him and out his backside, then slithers down his throat which ultimately kills Lee.  Ig ends up dying at the scene from his injuries (from Lee shooting him) and he is reunited with Marrin in the afterlife, where we re-watch the opening scene from the beginning of the movie but from slightly different camera angles.

My thoughts:  The acting was pretty great throughout the movie, but the story itself really started to lose steam at about the halfway point. I think the lack of "why" contributed to this, but also that some of the "big reveals" were almost painfully obvious from 20 minutes into the movie.  My thought was that Lee couldn't see the horns because he was the only person who thought Ig was innocent - but why would ONLY Lee believe Ig's innocence unless he knew who the real killer was?  Of course the logical conclusion here would be that Lee is the killer... and so I ended up getting to the right conclusion but for the wrong reason... which made the "reveal" that it was Lee a little bit disappointing later in the movie. Also, up until the scene where Ig survives being beaten, burned alive, and sinking into the water inside a car (which I'm assuming was just because of the power of the horns) I thought the story had a nice blend of "this could really happen" with more fantastical elements that weren't too flashy or extreme... until the end of the movie where it really took a turn for the ridiculous.  Eric's head being blown off is just the start of it, only to be outdone by the whole Ig-growing-wings-and-turning-into-a-demon thing, AGAIN outdone by the body-penetrating snakes that were force swallowed by Lee.  It was truly "what the fuck" and not in the "I can't figure out what's going on here" way, but in the "I can't believe this is how they're ending the movie" kind of way.  I have no idea if this scene is accurate as far as the book is concerned, but if it is, I feel like this is where the movie could have benefited from some "creative leeway" away from the writing of the book and into something more easily adapted to film. If it isn't accurate to the book... then I absolutely can't figure out why they would write it in the movie this way.  I mean, the movie was already on a decline, but this last scene in particular just didn't feel like it matched with the rest of the movie at all. I was suddenly watching a fully-fantasy movie and not a "fantastical things happening in regular life" movie, and it was disappointing to say the least.

Taylor:

The lack of 'why' really was this movies downfall because it's basically unrelenting and from the very start.  Why does Ig grow horns, why are people compelled to confide in him their darkest desires, why is he capable of making people do things, why is he so hard to kill, why is Marrins father inexplicably and suddenly convinced of Igs innocence, why didn't Ig have any idea of that hole in the treehouse where Marrin stashes her final confession WHEN WE ARE SHOWN IG HANGING OUT IN THE TREE HOUSE AFTER HER DEATH EARLIER IN THE MOVIE, why snakes, why does he turn to ash and die. why why WHY. these problems really cause it to collapse under it's own muddled plot.

The movie also lacks a certain cinematic quality, it looks cheap.

I really did enjoy the set up and found that Daniel Radcliffe did the best he could with the material, the Revelation about Marrins cancer at the end was particularly moving it just...doesn't know what it wants to be  is it a mystery? a whodunnit? a supernatural thriller? a light horror story featuring a shotgun execution? who knows...at any rate i think we can put the fork in this one...ROLL CREDITS!