Harry Potter is all growed up. In Horns, Daniel Radcliffe plays a dude whose girlfriend died of mysterious circumstances (read: everyone else in town thinks he killed her) and who, after a drunken evening, wakes up to discover that he has horns growing from his head. Things get weirder from there.

Before you continue reading, let me just warn you: I watched Horns a full year ago, long before it was ever released to American theaters. I don’t remember a lot of the specifics.

What I do remember is being intrigued by the film—which is directed by Alexandre Aja, the gore-loving director who has made ultra gory fare like The Hills Have Eyes and High Tension—and being firmly invested in the outcome of the story.

I also remember it struggling in the third act as the movie takes a decidedly darker and more serious turn, largely abandoning the quirky “black comedy” aspects found earlier in the story. The movie suffers from tonal inconsistencies—it’s not clear whether Aja intended for it to be a drama, a horror film or something else entirely—and those inconsistencies become more obvious as the movie progresses.

Still, Horns is a refreshingly unique movie that not only keeps you guessing but features another strong performance by Radcliffe, who has come a long ways since that first Harry Potter movie over a decade ago. Horns further establishes Radcliffe as a serious actor, even if both of his post-Potter releases thus far have been in the horror genre.

Horns is far from perfect and won’t appeal to everyone, but if you’re looking for something dark and a different this Halloween season, here you go. Would I watch it again? Yes, if only to remember exactly what happens.

Review by Erik Samdahl. Erik is a marketing and technology executive by day, avid movie lover by night. He is a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society.