Say your prayers.
Longlegs is a 2024 supernatural horror thriller film directed by Oz Perkins, written by Oz Perkins, produced by C2 Motion Picture Group, Traffic., Range, Oddfellows, and Saturn Films, and distributed by Neon. The film stars Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage.
"I'll be...waiting." - Longlegs
Plot
FBI agent Lee Harker is put to the test as she tracks down an elusive serial killer who has a mysterious method of killing that involves him not being present at the crime scene.
The Background
Longlegs was one of my most anticipated films of this year. The movie kind of came out of nowhere with this brilliant marketing campaign that got a ton of people, including me, excited for its release. Early buzz was highly positive and the anticipation of seeing Nicolas Cage as this freaky serial killer had me very, very hyped for this film.
The Sweet
There are not many horror movies that truly terrify me. Hereditary and The Blair Witch Project are really the only two movies that I feel frighten me to my core.
Longlegs scared the crap out of me.
The film's terrifying genius lies within its restraint. Nicolas Cage's titular serial killer is almost given the Jaws treatment where you barely see him for the first half of the film, and the glimpses that you get are so quick that it makes it scarier. Oz Perkins, the director, understands that leaving something up to the imagination is scarier than just straight-up showing it, so a lot of the scares are very restrained. The opening scene, which I found to be just horrifying, is the perfect example of this. There's a sense of slow-building atmospheric dread as we lead up to Cage's introduction. It was so frickin' scary. And that's how most of the film feels.
I also love the way that this film is shot. Perkins has talked about the use of dead space and wide-angle lenses extensively in interviews. The way that the cinematography works, characters are often framed in the center of the camera with tons of empty space behind them. This causes the viewer to constantly be glancing around the frame, waiting for something to pop up behind our characters. This makes ordinary scenes that should feel safe feel incredibly intense and unsafe. Open doorways and empty hallways have never been scarier than they are in Longlegs.
Our two main performances here are both really good. Nicolas Cage is obviously the selling point of this film, and his performance as Longlegs is just as wild as you would expect. It feels like the most nightmarish possible combination of Buffalo Bill, The Joker, Patrick Bateman, and every other movie psychopath you could imagine. And, as I said, the way that they hide his face throughout the film makes him feel even scarier. However, I think Maika Monroe was really the best performance in this movie. She plays our lead character as this awkward, distant genius who feels like she's carrying years of trauma. I loved how sparingly she showed true emotion. Monroe's performance gave Harker some depth that I don't think is there with an inferior actress.
The film is also really good at giving us these spine-tingling images that I feel like will stick around as iconic in the horror genre. Whether it's Longlegs's unsettling mannerisms or the nun covered in blood or the black cloak with red eyes hidden subtly underneath it, this movie knows how to deliver images that are burnt into the memory of the viewer.
And, finally, this film is a very effective serial killer story. The serial killer genre was a staple of 90s and 2000s cinema; Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, Zodiac. But since that generation, we really haven't gotten a ton of serial killer procedurals. The closest thing that we've gotten to that in recent memory is honestly The Batman. Longlegs, is, for the most part, an FBI serial killer procedural, and it's a really good version of that. It is intense and builds out a good mystery, which is exactly what every serial killer movie is aiming to do.
The Sour
I think Longlegs falters in its transition from serial killer horror to supernatural horror. Throughout the film, it is evident that there is something paranormal going on here that Harker will eventually uncover. I really like the idea of setting up a serial killer movie and eventually moving into supernatural horror, but I think Longlegs is very rushed in its transition. We get an exposition dump that, while visually well-done, feels like it just drops all of the answers on us very fast. And, immediately after we get all the answers, we rush into the third act...which is basically one scene. Let me repeat: the third act of this film is basically one scene. That's really not good, and it's especially disappointing, because Longlegs was so engaging and failed to fully stick the landing.
I also think that the answers to this mystery are less satisfying than the mystery itself. The idea of a serial killer who isn't present at the crime scenes is so awesome and creates this truly engaging mystery, but once you get the answer for how this is all working, it feels underwhelming. There are also some reveals and twists in the final twenty minutes that are very obvious. The movie does not do a good job of hiding its setups. For example, something will happen in the middle of the film and you'll think "Oh, that will probably come back later and give us this answer" and then that's exactly what happens.
Ambiguous endings can be very frustrating to me. When done well, like Inception or The Shining, they can be awesome. But when done clunky, like American Psycho or The Dark Knight Rises, they can be really, really frustrating. Longlegs gives us a pretty ambiguous ending, and I think it leans more in the frustrating category. It doesn't feel like it gives us a satisfying conclusion to this story and leaves too many loose ends. It doesn't ruin the story or anything like that, but it feels like there could've been a more concrete finish had they not rushed the third act as much.
Final Thoughts and Score
Despite a disappointing end, Longlegs is a terrifying, visceral serial killer horror flick that brings us a possible new horror icon and some of the best scares I have ever seen.
I am going Savory here. Age range is 16+.
SWEET N' SOUR SCALE
Sweet (Great)
Savory (Good)
Sour (Bad)
Moldy (Terrible)
"Longlegs"
Fun Factor: 8.5/10
Acting: 8.5/10
Story: 7.5/10
Characters: 8/10
Quality: 8/10
Directed by Oz Perkins
Rated R for strong bloody violence, frightening themes and images, language, thematic elements
Released on July 12, 2024
1 hour and 41 minutes
Maika Monroe as Lee Harker
Nicolas Cage as Longlegs / Dale Cobble
Blair Underwood as Agent Carter
Alicia Witt as Ruth Harker
Michelle Choi-Lee as Agent Browning
Kiernan Shipka as Carrie Anne Camera
Dakota Daulby as Agent Fisk
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