Horns (2013)
Daniel Radcliffe stars as a young man accused of murdering his girlfriend who is then shunned by the local townsfolk until one night he awakens with horns growing out of his head and the ability to make people tell him their darkest secrets as he starts to seek out the real killer.
Alex Aja's film begins as a clever horror comedy as we watch normal people reveal their hidden secrets, it's witty and a lot of fun but around the half way mark this kinda turns into a neo-noir mystery as Radcliffe becomes a demonic sleuth as the plot takes on even darker tones with added religious satire.
However at five minutes shy of two hours this is way too long and the flashback scenes become a bit wearing but overall this was an entertaining look at small town life with demonic overtones and at times felt quite Stephen King like, i guess it's a bit of like father like son because Horns is based on a book by King's son Joe Hill.
The Railway Children (1970)
Speaking of films that are too long. At 105 minutes that certainly applies to this charming and rather quaint family favourite.
It's an intelligent and humorous adaptation of E Nesbit's classic novel about three children and their mother who relocate to Yorkshire following their father's wrongful arrest for treason.
The landscapes are gorgeous and there's great location work at Oakworth railway station, Haworth and even picturesque Wycoller (Ten minutes in the car from me) but despite one or two well done set pieces such as the landslide onto the railway tracks, the story tends to become repetitive. The three children are all perfectly cast, especially Jenny Agutter as the oldest child who's passion for fun and adventure slowly fades as she faces growing up and the extra responsibility that comes with it, but Bernard Cribbins as the station master was slightly grating.
Amusingly Sally Thomsett, who plays 11 year old Phyllis, was twenty when she made this film and used to turn up for work in her sports car, she then went from this straight onto Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs where she plays one of the Cornish villagers.
|