2013 / USA - Canada / 120 minutes
Director: Alexandre Aja
Screenplay: Keith Bunin, based on the novel Horns by Joe Hill
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Max Minghella, Joe Anderson, Juno Temple, Kelli Garner
Genre: horror, dark fantasy, drama
In the small American town of Gideon's Falls, Ignatius "Ig" Perrish (Radcliffe) is accused of the brutal rape and murder of his girlfriend Merrin (Temple). Despite his repeated protestations of innocence, the townspeople are convinced of Ig's guilt. After a night of heavy drinking, Ig wakes up to find two large horns growing out of his head. While people can see the horns they don't appear to really notice them, but they are also compelled to confess to Ig their deepest, darkest secrets. Ig determines to use the power of the horns to help him discover the truth behind Merrin's murder.
The film is an adaptation of the 2010 novel Horns by Joe Hill, and sticks relatively close to the source. The story moves back and forth in time shifting from the present day narrative to Ig and Merrin's youth and the growth of their relationship. Several elements of the film may be too bizarre for some audiences to accept, but I enjoyed it. It's less of a conventional horror movie and more of a darkly satirical religious crime drama. The performances are superb, with Daniel Radcliffe in particular fantastic as the complex, troubled Ig Perrish.
Showing posts with label Max Minghella. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Max Minghella. Show all posts
Saturday, 8 November 2014
Sunday, 10 November 2013
The Darkest Hour
Year of Release: 2011
Director: Chris Gorak
Screenplay: Joe Spaihts, story by Leslie Bohem, M.T. Ahern and Joe Spaihts
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman
This alien invasion movie opens with two American entrepreneurs, Sean (Hirsch) and Ben(Minghella), who travel to Moscow to sell their new idea for a social networking site. However when they arrive they discover that their Swedish partner, Skyler (Kinnaman), has betrayed them and sold the idea beneath them. Drowning their sorrows in a club, Ben and Sean meet tourists Natalie (Thirlby) and Anne (Taylor). Suddenly, however, the city comes under attack from invisible aliens who disintegrate people. By the morning, Sean, Ben, Natalie, Anne and Skyler are forced to venture out to find safety and other survivors while avoiding the aggressive aliens.
This film really is pretty terrible. The storyline is full of clichés and the characters are almost non-existent. There are some effective sequences, with the deserted Moscow streets being very evocative, and there is some tension in certain scenes. The problem is that there is very little suspense, probably most fans of this type of film would be able to easily guess who is going to live or die, and the storyline is fairly predictable, pretty much involving the same pattern where the characters rest up somewhere and then realise that they should get to somewhere else necessitating a dangerous trek across the city. The aliens themselves, although largely invisible, make their presence known by appearing as kind of golden, glowing dust clouds and causing electrical items to flicker.
Director: Chris Gorak
Screenplay: Joe Spaihts, story by Leslie Bohem, M.T. Ahern and Joe Spaihts
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman
This alien invasion movie opens with two American entrepreneurs, Sean (Hirsch) and Ben(Minghella), who travel to Moscow to sell their new idea for a social networking site. However when they arrive they discover that their Swedish partner, Skyler (Kinnaman), has betrayed them and sold the idea beneath them. Drowning their sorrows in a club, Ben and Sean meet tourists Natalie (Thirlby) and Anne (Taylor). Suddenly, however, the city comes under attack from invisible aliens who disintegrate people. By the morning, Sean, Ben, Natalie, Anne and Skyler are forced to venture out to find safety and other survivors while avoiding the aggressive aliens.
This film really is pretty terrible. The storyline is full of clichés and the characters are almost non-existent. There are some effective sequences, with the deserted Moscow streets being very evocative, and there is some tension in certain scenes. The problem is that there is very little suspense, probably most fans of this type of film would be able to easily guess who is going to live or die, and the storyline is fairly predictable, pretty much involving the same pattern where the characters rest up somewhere and then realise that they should get to somewhere else necessitating a dangerous trek across the city. The aliens themselves, although largely invisible, make their presence known by appearing as kind of golden, glowing dust clouds and causing electrical items to flicker.
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