[Originally Appeared in Issue #2 of DEADLY - Horror & Sci-Fi Magazine] Based on the bestselling novel by Joe Hill and directed by modern Master of Horror Alexandre Aja, Horns is one of the more inventive and emotional genre-blending films to arrive in theaters this year. It also features yet another career-changing performance from Daniel Radcliffe, who is doing wondrous things to showcase his ever-evolving versatility as an actor.

Horns follows Ig Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe), a young man with a history of being an outcast. He just lost the love of his life (Juno Temple) after she was brutally murdered in the woods. Desperate for answers, Ig awakens one day to discover he’s grown a pair of devilish-looking horns. His new appendages allow him the ability to bend the will of others in a variety of ways that come in handy during his investigation into the identity of his girlfriend’s killer.

Aja discussed how it was Radcliffe who sought out the project in the beginning, as he was a big fan of the Horns novel and the troubled character of Ig Perrish. “It’s pretty amazing, but Daniel was the one who approached us for the role- he had read the book and the script and said  he really wanted to be Ig. I’ll be the first to admit that it was very hard for me to separate Daniel from Harry (Potter). After meeting with him for a few minutes, though, I realized how close he was to the character of Ig and it made everything associated with Harry just disappear.”

“In the book, Ig loses the love of his life- his girlfriend- and he’s been afflicted with this horrible power too,” explained Hill. “He experiences grief, rage, loss, despair, delight, madness and travels across this enormous landscape of emotion throughout the story. In the film, Daniel somehow manages to find a way to explore all of that and make it look effortless. And that’s Daniel- he may have worked harder than anyone else did on Horns, his performance is just that great.”

Throughout his career, Aja has kept audiences guessing with an oddball mix of genre films that generally have gone against the grain. Horns is no different. You couldn’t possibly get a more different follow-up to Piranha 3D for the French filmmaker who chatted about what initially drew him to the project as a storyteller.

“I think there were three things that caught my eye when I first read the book,” said Aja. The first was the characters, the second was the way the story was structured like a fable,  and the final thing was that the story takes you in so many different directions. In Horns, you can go from a dark comedy to a murder mystery to all the supernatural stuff, all with some scarier moments and emotional character moments too. I just thought the story was so unique. The biggest challenge while making Horns was getting all of those tones right, and making them feel like they could exist in a completely authentic way that felt true to the characters and the story.”

Aja also discussed the dreamlike visual style of Horns and how he achieved the look of the film by working closely with his DP Frederick Elmes. “I had some very strong ideas about the visuals when I first read Horns, and I knew I wanted to create this bridge between two worlds- the real and the fantastical- where you feel like you’re in a place you’ve seen a million times. You take one step and suddenly you’re transported into this almost biblical-style forest, that’s filled with lush greens and this otherworldly and almost romantic feeling- sort of this David Lynchian hyper-suburbanism that doesn’t quite feel real.”

“I think Alex did a wonderful job of staying faithful to the book,” Hill said when asked about seeing his novel adapted for the big screen. “There are even a few scenes in the movie that are beat-for-beat. All that being said, you can also quickly kill a movie by trying to stay constrained only to your source material, so Alex had to find that balance of being able to bring some of his own things into this so that it felt like his movie in the end. The heart and soul of Horns is in there, but the vision is uniquely Alex’s and, I know I probably shouldn’t say this, but I do think the movie is better than the book (laughs).”

It’s only a matter of time until fans can find out if Aja’s big screen version of Hill’s supernatural murder mystery fable is indeed superior to the stellar novel. Look for Horns in theaters this Halloween!

  • Heather Wixson
    About the Author - Heather Wixson

    Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.