Longlegs review.
A supernatural Silence of the Lambs that lets Nicolas Cage out of his…cage.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Longlegs
Directed by Osgood Perkins
Written by Osgood Perkins
Starring Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Alicia Witt, Blair Underwood, Kiernan Shipka, Dakota Daulby and Lisa Chandler
Longlegs Review
There’s a supernatural bent to Longlegs. It won’t be surprising…even when the story eventually leans heavily into it. The movie begins by positing that our main character, Special Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), has some psychic abilities. It allows her to get ahead of the film’s key investigation. Which makes the fact that the man they’re chasing consistently being one step ahead of her a pretty scary ordeal. Longlegs (Nicolas Cage) knows more about Harker than she can imagine. Or, perhaps, remember.
Harker’s connection to the Longlegs case is slowly revealed throughout the story. Slowly is the operative word. Not a surprise for a feature written and directed by Osgood Perkins. Patience is a hallmark of Perkins’ style. He finds a great fit for it here. The almost hypnotizing approach to storytelling fits the horror investigation that takes place like a glove. Perkins takes the story in some surprising places…he just gets there at his own pace.
The patience pays off in a steady build of tension throughout Longlegs. Harker’s investigation is leading her closer to the strange man who kills without ever entering his victims’ homes…and to the dark secrets locked away in her memory. Monroe plays Harker as quiet and awkward. Harker’s ability to see things that others can’t earns her a role in a big case for the FBI. Her mysterious connection to Longlegs allows her to blow it wide open. Blair Underwood turns in a great performance as the agent in charge. He steals many of his scenes…but the movie is, unsurprisingly, stolen by someone else.
Nicolas Cage plays the titular character. He’s kept at arm’s length early in the movie…but we end up seeing a lot more of him than you’d expect. Behind a pale face full of prosthetics, Cage gives a pure Cage performance. Longlegs is a perfect vessel for his oddest impulses. High pitched squeals, strange non-sequiturs, creepy body language…Cage presents a memorable and fully realized antagonist.
It’s also a hard one to pin down. The mystery of how he is committing these crimes consumes much of the investigation. Many families have met their ends because of Longlegs…despite there being no physical evidence that he’s even met them. Only a cryptic coded letter left at the scene in his handwriting connects him to the crimes. The victims are always a family. The father murders the family and then kills himself. A daughter always has a birthday on the 14th of the month. The murders always occur within six days of that birthday.
Harker discovers a hidden pattern that gives them their first real break in the case. The path leads them to the only survivor of Longlegs, some creepy ass dolls, and Harker’s own past. It’s not difficult to see where the story is pointing…but it does make some surprising moves when it gets there. Longlegs is, at times, a bit of a cheat. You can’t correctly solve its puzzles without knowing how far it is willing to lean into the supernatural. Perkins reveals only as much as he needs to when he needs to do so. Think of the movie less as a mystery and more as a steady walk through a creepy world where an increasing amount of black magic is present.
For the most part, everything in Longlegs adds up in the end. There are some questions about the necessity of the actions in the film’s climax given some of the reveals offered beforehand, however. We obviously can’t get into those here…but it doesn’t dilute the power of the film even though you may drive home asking yourself why certain things are the way they are in the film’s final moments.
As with all of Perkins’ movies…Longlegs is a stylish one. Flashbacks (or memories) are presented in a different aspect ratio. As if we are experiencing the through old home video. It’s a great choice. Flashbacks have rarely felt so set in their own time with so little required to achieve that feeling. The bulk of the movie features beautiful widescreen cinematography.
Longlegs rises in creepiness and tension throughout the story. It throws a few effectively shocking moments at you…but mostly slow plays its tone in aide of its great performances. Two acts of mystery pay off in a third act that heads down a slightly different road than we had been traveling down. Harker surmises early on that there is more to this case than they think. You should listen to her. She’s a little bit psychic.
Scare Value
Osgood Perkins finds a good fit for his patient approach to storytelling. Nicolas Cage gets to showcase some fine Nicolas Cage-ing. Despite its dark and suspenseful tone…Longlegs puts some genuinely funny flourishes into its slowly unrolling drama. Maika Monroe is in fine form as always. Blair Underwood turns in a performance that makes you wonder why people haven’t been casting him in meatier parts. It all blends together into an engaging psychological horror thriller worthy of the buzz.
4.5/5
Longlegs Link
In theaters now – Fandango
