Well-suited for its Halloween release, Alexandre Aja‘s (The Hills Have Eyes, High Tension) devilish new film, Horns, is a dark cross-genre film. Highly saturated with the colors of the Pacific Northwest and starring a 5 o’clock shadowed Daniel Radcliffe, the film is based on the novel by Joe Hill (mini-clone and son to Stephen King). With its similar setting and a heavy dose of maniacal absurdity at play, Horns has a tinge of Twin Peaks sensibility to it, but its far-too-fast pace and loosely formed mystery leave it short of such cult status. Overall, with Radcliffe in the lead and solid co-star performances, the film does still manage to intrigue and the imagery of it all will please horror fans looking for a strange Pan’s Labyrinth style scary-fantasy.

Equal parts tragic-romance, dark-comedy, and straight-up horror, Radcliffe plays Ig Perrish, a young man in a dark place after the recent death of his long-time girlfriend Merrin (Juno Temple, seen in flashback). Harassed by the media and questioned by those closest to him, Ig maintains his innocence despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. His lifelong best friend Lee (Max Minghella) is now a lawyer and doing his best to defend Ig during the investigation and trial. After a late-night candlelight vigil is held for Merrin by her grief-besotted father (David Morse), Ig goes on a particularly bad bender, ending up in bed with a trashy old friend, Glenna (Kelli Garner). Adding to the confusion of Ig’s life, he wakes up in her bed the next morning with something worse than an STD — horn tips are making their way out of Ig’s forehead.

After a particularly strange interaction with Glenna, who continues to ask Ig for permission to eat all her donuts, he rushes to the doctor for advice. Instead everyone he interacts with seems to want to tell him all the bad impulses and thoughts they are having. A mother in the waiting room expresses her disdain for her screaming child, the doctor asks permission to crush up some Oxycontin and snort it. Searching for respite at his parent’s home only leads to their own confessions of the grudge they hold against him for putting their lives into uproar and their doubts that he didn’t murder Merrin. Eventually Ig realizes by touching people he can see the bad things they’ve done, and an interaction with his musician brother Terry (Joe Anderson) gives Ig new insight into Merrin’s death, while also helping him realize he can use his new powers to get to the bottom of what happened to her.

As the deceased Merrin, Juno Temple manages to hold up the chemistry between her and Radcliffe in the flashback scenes. But Radcliffe’s best work in the film is definitely when he’s being evil and revenge-driven. His British sarcasm is put to good use, even though he hides the accent quite well. Cinematographer Frederick Elmes is put to great use with the film, creating some truly lovely scenes with color and light in the flashbacks that contrast with the darker present day scenes. A sometime collaborator with David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, and Charlie Kaufman, he seems to get the magical reality quality these directors love so much. The only artistic note I’m not sure I entirely understand is putting much of the most frightening action in broad daylight. While still brutally gruesome at moments, the tension would have been a bit more dramatic if it had that class horror element to it.

The slight variances from the novel (which I happened to have read) are subtle and sensible, though a fault of translation, especially in horror, is that much of the tension lies within being in the mind of a villain. A perk the novel maintains over the film. The build to the film’s final reveal seems weak. Though the final showdown is formidable enough. The film’s (and to be honest, the book’s) biggest failing has to do with some padding at the end to soften the blow of how much tragedy we’re forced to endure and provide some unnecessary character motivation. It tries to justify some of the death and comes across as insensitive instead. An unnecessary afterthought that no proper horror film would ever ascribe to.

Full of language and grittiness, Horns suffers from what most multi-genre films do, a bit of a scattered personality and an inability to do it all. But the juggling act is still an amusing thing to behold, and all of the devil jokes and imagery are just fun. Those with an appreciation for the macabre and the fantastical will appreciate the strange brew that is Horns.

Horns is out in theaters in the US October 31st, and is currently available to stream via VOD.

Friday at Comic-Con in Hall H was primarily focused on two of television’s hottest shows, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. We won’t bore you with television news, but… oh, who are we kidding? If you love good films, chances are you watch both of these amazing shows and therefore should know you can check out the new preview of The Walking Dead Season 5 here, and be sure to catch the gag reel from Game of Thrones here.

Alright, on to movie news.

RADiUS-TWC Preview Horns and Everly

The first film-related panel of the day showcased two of RADiUS-TWC’s upcoming films, Everly and Horns. To speak on Everly was the film’s lead, Salma Hayek, and director Joe Lynch. The film is the story of a woman whose mob boss ex-boyfriend decides he wants her killed. She holes up in her apartment and defends herself agains the would-be assassins one by one. Lynch talked about his excitement to make a film starring a badass woman and “strong female character” which he said shouldn’t even be a term any more as a female ought just to be allowed to be a “strong character.” No argument here.

Salma talked about the difficulty of making a film shot entirely in one small location, as well as Lynch’s decision to shoot chronologically. For good measure she also mentioned that she “barely wear[s] anything at all through the whole film.”

The real meat of this panel was when director Alexandre Aja, writer Joe Hill, and star Daniel Radcliffe (and let’s be honest, mostly Radcliffe) made their entrance to show off Horns. Based on Hill’s novel, the film stars Radcliffe as Ig Perrish, a young man who wakes up one morning to discover he’s growing horns. His new accessories are fitting as he’s been demonized in his hometown for a year since his girlfriend Merrin (Juno Temple) was murdered and the finger of blame was pointed at Ig. With his horns comes the disturbing gift of getting anyone near him to reveal their darkest secrets and innermost evil desires. At first alarming Ig soon realizes he can use his new gift to track down who really killed Merrin and force them to confess to it.

After a full-audience rendition of “Happy Birthday” for Radcliffe, who just turned 25, Hill, who looks plenty like his father Stephen King and has his voice, remarked on the splendor of Hall H saying “Joss Whedon’s butt sweat once graced this chair. I can almost feel his essence wafting up to me.”

After that weirdness they showed an especially fun clip from the film where Ig convinces some reporters hounding him that they ought to fight each other before doing some investigating at a local bar. The bartender ends up starting the place on fire, and Ig walks coolly out the front door with smoking billowing around him, horns protruding, with a red shirt, yellow hoodie and great brown leather jacket. (Any similarities to Gryffindor colors were exclaimed to be purely coincidental — “I’m too young to be referencing my own past work in my new films” joked Radcliffe.)

Of course the audience got a bit swoony, unable to keep from asking Radcliffe questions that related this role to Harry Potter. He very eloquently spoke highly of his experience with the franchise and explained how much he loved the script for Horns immediately, finding himself quite drawn to the dark anti-hero Ig. Aja chimed in saying “Potter was only the beginning of something great.”

Based on what we saw the film has a bit of ridiculousness (how could it not with that premise?) but looks thoroughly enjoyable.

20th Century FOX Presentation

Next up was the two hour jam-packed presentation from 20th Century Fox. First on their slate, The Maze Runner, which they teased by immediately showing an extended look at one of the opening scenes in which teenager Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) finds himself in a fast-moving elevator which opens into a grassy glade surrounding by tall stone walls and filled with many other boys his own age and he himself can’t remember his own name.

Then out came director Wes Ball along with the author of the novel, James Dashner, followed by cast members Will Poulter, Kaya Scodelario, and Dylan O’Brien. They answered a few questions around the film, while audience questions focused mainly on the book series and Ball revealed they are hoping to complete the entire series, even showing a conceptual poster for The Scorch Trials, the title of the second book. Another long clip was shown of the bug-like creatures that terrorize the boys as they run through the maze. Things got slightly awkward when O’Brien accidentally let slip a spoiler that really wouldn’t surprise readers of the book, but was a bit of a giveaway for those who will just be seeing the film.

Next up was Jorge Gutierrez‘s colorfully vibrant cartoon, Book of Life. Showing a longer trailer for the film, it really does look impressively creative with breathtaking animation. (Here’s the first trailer.) Championing on behalf of the film was Gutierrez, producer Guillermo del Toro, Channing Tatum, Rob Perlman, and Christina Applegate. Always a fan favorite at Comic-Con, del Toro received the biggest welcome and was eloquent with his responses to questions regarding the film. The man has always been good in deciphering the difference between being a film’s director, and thus owner, and a film’s producer, which is when he plays advocate.

While del Toro is always geeky charming, and there were plenty of questions for Channing Tatum, especially one alluding to his best asset being his “visual” ones and not necessarily his voice, the real charmer was director Gutierrez who spoke with childlike enthusiasm about his childhood in Mexico and his deep connection with Dia De Los Muertos, a day when the dead are honored and believed to commune with the living.

The panelists left with the audience chanting “Hellboy 3” and del Toro smiling ear to ear.

Next up was Hitman: Agent 47, based on the video game. The film stars Rupert Friend, who sent in a short video hello introducing the first trailer. Clearly his work on Homeland has prepped him well to be a calm collected super-human assassin. The film looks ho-hum and the brief panel with Hannah Ware and Zachary Quinto didn’t inspire much enthusiasm for the film, just a few thank yous from fans to Quinto for his Star Trek work.

Next was a hilarious preview of New Girl co-stars Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr.‘s film Let’s Be Cops. The extended trailer does indeed look hilarious, albeit completely ridiculous. Jake Johnson sent in a video as he’s currently filming Jurassic World (I mean honestly, what is that movie even going to be like with all these comedians?!) that showed him in a hotel with a long-haired, thong clad man. Weird. Funny. Everyone involved, including Nina Dobrev, Rob Riggle, and Keegan-Michael Key, all sounded like they had a lot of fun filming it.

Last in this jam-packed panel was more on Kingsman: The Secret Service. First a video with Mark Hamill, who has a role in the film, introduced an extended scene from the film. In the scene Colin Firth‘s secret agent character smoothly takes out some local thugs who give main character Eggsy (Taron Egerton) a hard time. The film looks action-packed and surprisingly clean for a comic-book adaptation. Perhaps because the main villain, played by Samuel L. Jackson hates the sight of blood?

At any rate it certainly looks like an interesting addition to the action-packed films on the roster this weekend and seeing Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson in the same panel was not something I’d have imagined every seeing.

The Musk of Tusk: An Evening with Kevin Smith

After a jam-packed day an hour and a half listening to Kevin Smith babble on was almost soothing. Known as a yearly frequenter and panel giver at Comic-Con, this year Kevin Smith started by giving Comic-Conners exactly what they’d want to hear: insider info on the new Star Wars film. Smith is one of the privelaged few who had the chance to visit the film’s set in London by invitation of JJ Abrams. Smith, while careful not to break his NDA, told an extended story (is anything LESS than extended with him?) about walking onto set and going aboard the Millennium Falcon.  He then segued strangely well into a sex-story concerning his wife. And that’s Kevin Smith for you. He got surprisingly more audience questions in than you’d think, considering how long-winded he is. Two of those questions were from children and it was hilarious to watch him try to keep his swearing at a minimum (as if they hadn’t JUST heard the sex story).

Eventually Smith revealed that Tusk is what he considers to be his best film to date, and he’s also working on a film he hopes children, especially girls will love, called Yoga Hosers. Finally Smith gave us the first trailer for Tusk, which he elaborately explained came from an idea developed during one of his podcasts, called Smodcast, where he discussed an ad someone in real-life posted about wanting someone to come stay with them and agree to dress in a walrus suit. Smith began to speculate this would make a great horror film, where the man actually wanted to turn his house guest INTO a walrus. After spitballing the premise, Smith got Twitter to affirm his decision to make the film with the hashtag #WalrusYes, and here we are a year later and his film is coming out in September.

The trailer is fantastic. In it, Justin Long plays a podcaster who travels to Canada to interview his latest subjective for his podcast and discovers the old man (Michael Parks) actually wants to keep him hostage and turn him into a walrus. It’s completely bizarre and looks delightfully creepy AND very Kevin Smith-ish, with Justin Long cracking a joke at the end of the trailer that he “doesn’t want to die in Canada.” It looks great, and you can check out the trailer here. After the trailer, actors Genesis Rodriguez and Haley Joel Osment came out to about their roles in the film.

In closing Kevin Smith assures us that though the trailer doesn’t explicitly show it, “We do turn him into a f***ing walrus. And it is f***ed up.”

It looks fantastic and it would be wonderful to see a Kevin Smith film we can get behind after all these years.

So Way Too Indie is about to become Way Too Geeky for a few days next week as we cover the annual Comic-Con International in San Diego.

While we both decry and yet embrace the infiltration of Hollywood at a convention created for devoted comic fans, we revel in the chance to get our movie news AND pop-culture fix all at the same time. I, Ananda, have painstakingly gone through the schedule of events (and OMG there are a lot) to find all those movie-related panels to (try to) attend so that WTI readers get all the juicy pop-culturey news they deserve.

Here are the Top 10 things Way Too Indie can’t wait to see and hear about at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con:

10 – Sony Pictures Panel

(Thursday, 12:30, Indigo Ballroom)

Feeding into our nostalgia is a first look at Goosebumps starring Jack Black and directed by Rob Letterman. Jack and Rob will both be on hand to talk about the film and discuss Black’s turn as the legendary author himself, R.L. Stine. The film is slated for August 7, 2015. Director Chris Columbus will also attend, showing audiences a sneak peek at upcoming Adam Sandler film Pixels also set to début next year.

9 – Radius-TWC Previews Horns and Everly

(Friday, 3pm, Hall H)

Daniel Radcliffe will be on-hand along with co-star Juno Temple to chat about Horns and début the film’s movie trailer. Directed by Alexandre Aja and based on Joe Hill’s dark novel, the film already looks like Radcliffe is tapping into the Voldemort spectrum of evil for his tortured protagonist. Additionally, Salma Hayek will introduce footage from Everly where she plays a woman protecting her family from assassins sent by her ex, a mob boss. We’ve also been promised other news on upcoming Radius titles.

8 – 20th Century Fox Presentation

(Friday, 4:20, Hall H)

While there is no formal description of what Fox will be covering they did release to press that talent will be on hand for The Maze Runner, Book of Life, Hitman: Agent 47, Let’s Be Cops, and Kingsman: The Secret Service. So we can expect to hear about all of those, but not a peep about next June’s new Fantastic Four reboot. Maybe because they know die-hard comic audiences at this convention are not entirely thrilled with director Josh Trank’s casting choices and avant-garde vision for the film, namely his suggestion that his cast not bother even reading the comics. At any rate YA fav The Maze Runner should draw a crowd, and Channing Tatum, a voice in Book of Life, will likely cause swooning. Personally Colin Firth, from Kingsman: The Secret Service, is the more likely candidate to cause this girl to swoon.

7 – Warner Bros. Pictures Panel

(Saturday, 10am, Hall H)

Saturday starts off with a bang, getting one of the most anticipated panels out of the way first thing. Always big presenters at the convention, Warner Bros. will provide a look at three major upcoming films: Jupiter Ascending, Mad Max: Fury Road (we’d better see Tom Hardy), and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. After its pushed back release date the latest Wachowski sibling film is what we most want to hear about, though the Mad Max reboot may also be worth a look. However, The Hobbit exhausted us two years ago. Yawn.

6 – The Giver

(Thursday, 1:30, Hall H)

A novel with a huge fan base, especially those of us forced to read Lois Lowry’s The Giver in school as children, the film adaptation has generated huge amounts of buzz. With a fantastic cast (oh, please show up Meryl Streep) we can’t wait to see exclusive footage from the film which premieres in August. The trailer has already shown it looks pretty fantastic.

5 – Paramount Panel

(Thursday, 3pm, Hall H)

No news on what they will discuss but we’re hoping there is something on Interstellar, Chris Nolan’s new film to be released in November. Also likely are plugs for Hercules (which comes out the very next day) and the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We hope they know their audience and don’t bother with Hot Tub Time Machine 2. And if we’re really lucky there might be some small clues about next summer’s Terminator: Genesis.

4 – Goonies Never Say Die

(Thursday, 6pm, Indigo Ballroom)

Goonies cast members will be on hand to discuss the newly announced Goonies sequel. Surprise guests are guaranteed and plenty of discussion on how this cult-favorite film has stood the test of time. The child in us is literally jumping up and down in anticipation.

3 – The Musk of Tusk – An Evening with Kevin Smith

(Friday, 6:35pm, Hall H)

We’ll definitely be getting a trailer for Kevin Smith’s new monster horror film Tusk, his first film in three years. It was announced yesterday the film will be released September 19. Also guaranteed is hilarious discussion as anyone who listens to Smith’s SModcast podcast already knows. Speaking of the podcast, Tusk was first envisioned in an episode of the show and follows a journalist who encounters a worldwide adventurer and becomes the plaything of a deranged killer. The film stars Justin Long, Michael Parks, Genesis Rodriguez and Haley Joel Osment and we know Rodriguez and Osment will be at the panel.

2 – Legendary Pictures Panel

(Saturday, 12:25pm, Hall H)

Guaranteed are a look at Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming horror gothic-romance Crimson Peak as well as a look at new found-footage horror-thriller As Above/So Below. The latter is already rather uninspiring after releasing a ho-hum trailer but we wouldn’t mind if Guillermo del Toro took up all the time. Crimson Peak sounds quite promising, with del Toro saying his intentions were to make a film in the vein of the horror greats, The Exorcist, The Shining, and The Omen. A classic ghost story sounds like exactly what we need in the sea of found-footage out there in Horror-land. And if he wanted to go on to talk about Pacific Rim 2, we’d be more than happy to hear all about it! No clue if there will be enough info yet to discuss Godzilla 2, we completely understand director Gareth Edwards might be a little overwhelmed with that little Star Wars spinoff film he’s prepping for.

1 – Marvel Studios Panel

(Saturday, 5:30pm, Hall H)

Always the benchmark of Comic-Con we expect plenty from Marvel’s presentation. For starters they are likely to give us some special guest appearances and footage from Guardians of the Galaxy as a last push before it’s August 1 release. Also pretty much guaranteed is info on Avengers: Age of Ultron including some cast members and hopefully a sneak peek or two at footage. Marvel’s had a busy week with announcements about their universe, especially major changes for The Avengers as Thor is now a woman, Captain America is getting a comic reboot in “The All-New Captain America” where the Falcon takes over as the Captain, and then Iron Man gets back to his darker Tony Stark roots in “Superior Iron Man”. No clue how this will effect the film franchise, but I’m sure we can expect a reboot in a few years depending on how audiences take to the new personalities/sexes/identities. Otherwise, announcements around Ant Man, due for a release next summer, are also likely despite Edgar Wright’s abandonment of the project. Peyton Reed (who is also signed on to direct the screen version of comic book The Fifth Beatle) is now set to direct and the film just might have a chance of keeping up its momentum.

Notable Absences

Where the heck is Disney, Lucasfilm, and Lionsgate? Apparently Lionsgate thinks The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 doesn’t need the added publicity, because they are blowing off Comic-Con this year. They are probably right. Obviously Lucasfilm doesn’t think it has enough to talk about yet in regards to Star Wars Episode VII. And apparently Disney didn’t feel like coming out to promote their first Disney-Marvel animated collaboration Big Hero 6 (which just debuted a trailer). Also no George Clooney to chat about Tomorrowland, the film based on the area of Disney’s theme park, and no Pixar which means nothing on Inside Out. Maybe Disney is skipping out in an attempt to push people to D23, their exclusive Disney convention?

At any rate, be sure to stay tuned to Way Too Indie for up to the minute coverage throughout Comic-Con as we battle the lines and cosplayers to get all the juicy tidbits.

Check out the first poster and photos for Michael Dowse‘s (Goon) newest film, What If, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan.

The film centers around med school dropout Wallace (Radcliffe), who strikes a close relationship with quirky animator Chantry (Kazan). As their relationship blooms, they wonder if being best friends means they could also be soul mates, even if she is already a part of a long-term relationship. The film co-stars young up-and-comers Adam Driver and Rafe Spall.

From the look of the poster and photos, this looks like the first time we will see Radcliffe in a contemporary, real-world film. His Harry Potter co-star Emma Watson has successfully made this transition, so it is intriguing to see Radcliffe go through it.

What If is set to open in August, released by CBS Films.

Based on true events that took place in and around Colombia University in 1944, director John Krokidas‘ impressive debut feature, Kill Your Darlings, is a dark, moody tale of obsession, betrayal, and murder involving a handful of young men, unruly intellectuals who poison as much as they inspire and arouse each other. These young men just happen to be Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Lucien Carr (and others), the cornerstone figures of the eminently influential Beat Generation, but Krokidas’ film wisely doesn’t check your knowledge of their later accomplishments at the door.

It’s a self-contained origin story of the beloved literary and counterculture icons that’s friendly to the unfamiliar as it cuts off just before our anti-heroes go off to become famous writers. The movie’s focus begins to blur eventually when it starts playing it too loose for its own good, but it’s intoxicating throughout and harbors a murderer’s row of thriving young actors who deliver solid performances.

Daniel Radcliffe (The Boy Who Lived!) leads the ensemble as Ginsberg, a brilliant, sheepish 17-year-old freshman at Colombia who becomes enamored with Carr (Dane DeHaan, ridiculously good), an androgynous, boisterous rebel with a magnetic aura and an affinity for reciting Henry Miller on top of tables in the campus library. Carr ushers the Ginsberg into a hazy world of heavy drugs, heavy drinking, and heavy ideas, ideas that renounce societal, sexual, religious, and artistic norms. Through Carr, Ginsberg meets the kooky, likable Burroughs (Ben Foster, who’s great as usual, though he lets his younger cast-mates shine), the hard-headed (one-dimensionally written) Kerouac (Jack Huston), and David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall), a spiteful, damaged soul.

The drugged-out thinkers massage each others’ genius (it’s almost as sexual as it sounds), ruminating through the night and brainstorming ways to upheave the system and shake up the social consciousness. Kamerer is the bitter outlier of the group–he and Carr have a dark, nebulous history that eventually turns murderous–Kill Your Darlings begins at the end, opening with Carr holding Kammerer’s dead body in the Hudson River.

There isn’t a bad word to say about the performances the actors turn in. Not a thing. But still, there isn’t a grand, towering performance turned in either, though DeHaan comes close with his assured, seductive take on Carr, by far the most interesting of the lot (even the other characters are drawn to him like flies to a light). Radcliffe balances the wide-eyed naiveté and big brains of the young Ginsberg well, and he disappears into the role with ease (surprisingly, “Harry” didn’t pop into my head even once). The chemistry between Radcliffe and DeHaan sizzles, which is good, since their relationship bears the heft of the drama. The supporters–Elizabeth Olsen, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kyra Sedgwick, David Cross–are superb and make the few moments they have on camera count.

As the story–written by Krokidas and Austin Bunn–unfolds and Ginsberg follows Carr deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole, things get a little sketchy. Krokidas gets funky with his camerawork, which helps communicate the groups’ druggy state, but often results in shots that seem superficial and superfluous in relation to the narrative. One scene in particular–a happy-gas-induced dream sequence in a jazz club–feels awfully showboat-y, though it’s got a ton of style, just like the rest of the film, which is worth noting. The rich, moody atmosphere Krokidas and DP Reed Morano create is striking, with deep shadows and dusty light framing the characters as they scheme and philosophize around in and around the university in the dead of night. There’s a chilling, shadowy, nocturnal feel to the sets and locations that makes the film feel like it’s been dipped in a bucket of film noir (a good thing).

One of the film’s glaring blemishes is a writing conundrum that Krokidas and Bunn couldn’t seem to work around. From the outset, it’s clear that Ginsberg is meant to be our eyes and ears, our vessel into Krokidas’ smoky 1940’s world of knit sweaters and boozy excess. With this in mind, the scenes between Carr and Kammerer feel oddly ancillary, as Ginsberg wasn’t involved with these meetings at all. It’s a bit off-putting, though Krokidas’ narrative is obviously trapped by the reality of the events, so it’s hard to think of how he could have worked around it.

As an introduction to the Beats (which it will likely be to many), Kill Your Darlings is a success–despite its flaws, it successfully dramatizes some of the most canonized figures in modern literature without relying on their reputation (no easy feat), making them cool, young, and edgy again. It’ll likely inspire many a youth to pick up a book by one of the Beats or perhaps put pen to paper themselves, which is a triumph.

Kill Your Darlings trailer:

Talk about timely reviews, approximately 6 months after the movie was released in theaters, and one month after it was released on DVD the world will finally get to hear my much anticipated thoughts on the film. After years of dismissing Harry Potter as a silly children’s series, this 25 year old, chiseled, classically good-looking, professional accountant was swept up by the fascinating wizarding world. It was just too hard to ignore a series that has sold a bazillion copies, and had been a cultural phenomenon for 10 plus years. The books are amazing; JK Rowlings has created an incredible universe that sucks in both kids and adults. I am only truly lucky too not have discovered this series growing up, had I been younger, I guarantee I would have been that kid using spells in class, reading during recess, and realistically asking my teacher if magic was scientifically possible.

I promised myself I would only dedicate one chapter to the film series as a whole. I knew the movies would be just one interpretation of the novels, and in no way would it match up to the way I perceived the books. But as a whole, I have truly enjoyed each and every movie on very different levels. The majority of the film series criticism comes from what was left out of the novels. Many of the novels were over 700 pages long and there was just no way to put it all on the screen, a common problem with all films adapted from novels.

I personally enjoyed the earlier films because they had much simpler source material to cover. As the books progressed, the films became more and more disjointed as confusing plot points had to be condensed or all together left out. I personally feel Alfonso Cuaron’s The Prisoner of Azkhaban was the best film, as it transformed the series from an entertaining children’s series, to a much deeper, darker story, without losing any of the original charm.

As the seventh movie starts, Voldemort is on the rise, he has slowly been gaining power and support as the ineffectual Ministry of Magic has stumbled in their attempts to address the growing threat. Harry Potter and his two close friends, Ron Weasley, and Hermionie Granger, have decided to abandon their seventh year at Hogwarts and go on the run. They search out Horcruxes, pieces of Voldemort’s soul, in an attempt to finally destroy the dark lord. After Ron’s older brother’s wedding is interrupted by the bad guys, Harry and his friends go off the radar to avoid capture. The characters feel lost as Harry’s old school teacher and mentor, Albus Dumbledore, only left a series of mysterious clues and ambiguous plans. The trio feels alone and frustrated, as the pressure starts to mount, they have few allies and they struggle to identify, find, and destroy the remaining Horcruxes.

I was very excited to learn that Warner Bros. had officially decided to break up the complicated epic, that was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It truly allowed the first part to be a journey film, in which the true elements of each character are given time to grow and develop on screen. Few elements of the book were cut out as there was just so much more screen time to let the story breathe. Director David Yates, doing his 3^rd Harry Potter film, has put forth his best effort so far, the film is exciting, and visually impressive, yet the frustration and wandering of the novel is conveyed perfectly. The action is intense, the acting has really matured, and the vast characters and dialogue are masterfully condensed into a very focused, entertaining film. A very entertaining animated segment detailing the Tale of the Three Brothers is very concise and well executed. The only major criticism I have of the film, is that the other elements of the wizarding world are lost in the film, as it solely focused on the three characters and their pursuit of Horcruxes. Updates on Hogwarts, the growing threat of attacks on muggles, and the rise of death eaters in the ministry are largely left out.

Hardcore Harry Potter fans will not be disappointed. It is an exciting and faithful adaptation that really captures the essence of the book. Casual fans will enjoy it, as it is visually appealing and is definitely one of the better Harry Potter movies. If you have never heard of Harry Potter, well, I don’t know why you would start with the seventh movie. You will probably not like it as you will really not understand any of the characters or story, and you will probably just lump it in with Twilight, dismiss it, and make fun of anyone who does like it, and you probably have no imagination…or soul.