After raking in millions in Harry Potter money, Daniel Radcliffe pretty much has his pick of movies. Why he picks the strange movies that he does kind of confounds me. The Woman in Black seemed... uninspired. Kill Your Darlings was also a strange and ultimately unpopular movie. This was another odd decision, and I can't really tell you why he made it; it's not that interesting.
Daniel is a guy who met a girl (played by the very Irish Juno Temple) when he was just a kid. He has dated her since then, and now he has been accused of killing her. As the story unfolds in front of us, we learn more about his past and the events of the night in question, but the more interesting thing is the horns that he grows.
See, these horns are only visible to some people sometimes, and one of them even says that it's hard to remember that the horns are even there when you look away from them. However, it seems that they are the visible sign of the new ability that he manifests of having other people ask his permission to do things that they want to do and, of course, to tell him the absolute truth.
Daniel is a good actor caught in a mediocre movie and a relatively boring role. Juno Temple really doesn't have to do much for this movie (even in flashbacks) other than be a redhead and be pretty. Kelli Garner is the girl that grew up with the group, and now she's a tattooed bartender who is renowned for being trashy and wielding self esteem so low that it may be subterranean. So no, no strong women in this movie.
The only person who seems to believe in Daniel's innocence is his lawyer. Max Minghella plays a public defender who, no surprises here, grew up with the group. He has a steadfast belief in Daniel that really doesn't seem to make sense. I mean, even when you don't know the specifics about what happened, it is clear that his parents, her parents, and pretty much everyone all over town thinks he's a murderer.
The movie plays out very slowly, and there are way too many flashbacks. At one point, they do a flashback, come back to the present, and then immediately switch to later in that flashback. It doesn't make any sense why the director would make some of these choices, and that's not even talking about the fact that they have him embrace the complete demon look by adding a pitchfork and friendly snake. The whole "horn" thing didn't make a whole heap of sense, and it doesn't get better with added accoutrements.
Direction was bad
Acting was okay
Story was crap
Dialogue was good
Bottom Line: A fairly lousy movie. I've seen worse, but that is no excuse.
1.0/5