“Longlegs” - Film Review
For months, the production company behind Longlegs, Neon, has built their marketing plan for the movie on the promise of horror unlike anything the audience has never seen before. First looks of the film were strange, cryptic teasers that gave nothing away. Flashes of old family photos and symbols were shown as a 911 call played in the background. Even the full-length trailer didn’t give the entirety of the film away. It’s an uncommon thrill to be able to be seated in a movie theater and only have the vaguest idea of what kind of journey the film is going to take you on. Longlegs gives its audience that thrill, even if the destination leaves something to be desired.
courtesy of Neon
Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) is an FBI agent with psychic abilities. She’s able to deduce where killers are hiding without even the faintest of clues, a sixth sense for crime solving that has made her an invaluable member of the FBI. These abilities are partially why she’s chosen to help solve the case of serial killer Longlegs (Nicolas Cage). For over twenty years, Longlegs has killed families around the Pacific Northwest while never leaving the faintest trace of DNA behind. At every crime scene is a coded letter written in ominous characters. No one has been able to decipher them, but when Agent Harker receives a letter of her own, she finds herself being dragged into the dark, satanic world Longlegs has created.
For the first hour and some change, Longlegs is a deeply unsettling serial killer mystery. It’s a modern, updated, and gnarlier Silence of the Lambs. Even for those who have grown hardened to horror movies and aren't easily unnerved, Longlegs is a different beast. The editing, the grainy film, and the nature of an ever-lurking serial killer are enough to make the hair on the audience’s arms stand up. A palpable air of tense excitement could be felt in the theater as Agent Harker began to unravel the mystery of Longlegs and the purpose behind each of the murders. The audience, too, felt like they could play along. It’s only once Agent Harker learns the truth about Longlegs that the film turns into something the audience has seen before.
courtesy of neon
Longlegs is a bit like a roller coaster. The climb to the top is thrilling because it’s all anticipation. The audience is racking their brains, trying to figure out where the film could possibly end up, waiting to feel their stomachs drop as the roller coaster crests the hill and begins its final descent. Longlegs’ drop is a bunny hill. It takes an expected route, one that has been seen time and again. That in itself is not a problem. Tropes and genre expectations exist for a reason, but when a film starts as grippingly as Longlegs, one hopes that the ending will be just as fresh and innovative. Instead, the movie gives the audience an answer that doesn’t feel justified. We get the “why” in the most basic sense, but when one starts to think about the rationale provided, it falls apart.
It feels as though we’re living in a horror renaissance. Even if Longlegs doesn’t fully change the game, the atmospheric world it creates is one that should be remembered and studied. The work that Cage, Monroe, and writer/director Osgood Perkins put forth should be celebrated. Longlegs is a nightmare, but one that it’s easy to wake up from.
Follow me on BlueSky, Instagram, Letterboxd, & YouTube. Check out Movies with My Dad, a new podcast recorded on the car ride home from the movies.