Year: 2014
Director: Alexandre Aja
Writer: Keith Bunin (screenplay), Joe Hill (novel)
Cinematographer: Frederick Elmes
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple, Max Minghella, Joe Anderson, Kelli Garner
Country of Origin: USA | Canada
Rating: R
Time: 120 min

I saw Alexandre Aja's Horns starring Harry Potter aka Daniel Radcliffe at this year's Beyond Fest. Horns is a highly entertaining love story that entails a murder mystery with horror elements all in one! You can tell that Radcliffe is trying to shed his Potter image and for the most part, he does it superbly! Despite some superfluous scenes and music within the film, Horns continues to bring huge laughs and sincere performances. Although the costuming and make-up was flawless, something about Radcliffe being demonic wasn't as convincing and can easily come off as silly. But nevertheless, this is a great assemble of extremely talented and young actors that complement each other really well! I have not read the book but like so many others, I'm sure the book is better. B-

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The second ever Beyond Fest has finally come to a close! Beyond Fest is one of the best film festivals for genre and horror films in Los Angeles, hands down! Their line-up continues to amaze and bring once-in-a-lifetime events whether it was having Goblin perform the scores of Dario Argento films last year or reuniting John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis for a very special Halloween screening! As a novice to the genre, it is always a pleasure to be schooled on the fundamentals on these films that I am rarely exposed to from real xxxcore fans! I had the pleasure of having the boys of Beyond Fest tell me in their own words what the festival is all about so be sure to check my recap video! I watched twelve features in total which I have all graded for you down below. 

Horns (Dir. Alexandre Aja) B+

The Editor (Dir. Adam Brooks & Matthew Kennedy) B-

20,000 Days on Earth (Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard) A

Nightcrawler (Dir. Dan Gilroy) A (See Review) 

V/H/S Viral (Dir. Justin Benson, Gregg Bishop, Todd Lincoln, Aaron Moorhead, Marcel Sarmiento, Nacho Vigalondo) A

Starry Eyes (Dir. Kevin Kolsch & Dennis Widmyer) A

Possession (Dir. Andrzej Zulawski) A

R100 (Dir. Hitoshi Matsumoto) C+

Halloween (Dir. John Carpenter) A

The Town that Dreaded Sundown (Dir. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon) B+

Tokyo Tribe (Dir. Sion Sono) A-

Photos!

   

   

   

   

See more Beyond Fest related things! 

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Nightcrawler has got to be one of the best and my favorite films of the year! This is Dan Gilroy's directorial debut film and it is an absolute knock out of a film with its razor sharp screenplay, Los Angeles setting, and Jake Gyllenhaal's incredible transformative performance that is sure to get under your skin and stay with you! Gyllenhaal is Lou Bloom, a petty thief that will stop at nothing till he succeeds is today's modern day success story despite its grim and twisted outline! Gyllenhaal shed 30 pounds for the role and completely lost himself during the process aka smashing a mirror during one intense scene! Gyllenhaal really gives it his all and it is one of the most chilling performances I have seen as of lately that is bound to hear some Oscar buzz.

This is one film that I MUST watch on repeat because as a Los Angeles native and actually seeing L.A. story on screen that is ACTUALLY SHOT IN L.A. is pure euphoria. Jake Gyllenhaal has proved himself to be Hollywood's rare gem, repelling blockbuster films after stumps like Prince of Persia (remember this atrocity?!) to pursue more challenging indie pieces like Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners & Enemy and now Nightcrawler. Riz Ahmed is a joy to watch as Bloom's aloof and nervy "intern" and so compelling that I was shocked to know that he is actually British! If you just cut the fat off Bloom's psychotically twisted view of success, the film serves to be one of the most inspirational and motivational pieces I have ever seen or is that my psycho brain talking?! Regardless, Nightcrawler is a rare film birthed out of Tinseltown because it has the meat of an art film and the shine of a Hollywood film! You can't ask for anything better than that! The film comes out October 31st. GET READY.

Poster & Trailer // Teaser 

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