Film Review - Longlegs (2024)

There has already been quite the buzz around Osgood Perkins’ stark new horror/thriller Longlegs. For months, its elusive and patient marketing campaign has been purposefully secretive. Many people were unaware that Nicolas Cage was a part of the film until they deemed it necessary for us to know. Cryptic clues, quick teaser glances, and hard-to-decipher images all helped amp up the anticipation for what could be one of the year’s most ambitious horror films. But good marketing is only half of the jigsaw: would such well-nurtured publicity lead us to disappointment? The simple answer is no. But prepare yourselves, because this one will stick with you long after the credits.

Maika Monroe plays young FBI agent Lee Harker whose eye for finding clues in seemingly uncrackable cases. Because of her unique sensitivities, she is assigned to a series of gruesome and evil killings over a few decades that cannot be traced to one individual, despite rumours and legends of a specific serial killer known simply as “Longlegs” (Nicolas Cage). Despite her awkward, anxious, and quiet persona, Harker becomes infatuated with solving the case, leading her to retrace personal traumas which turn out to help in more ways than one

What you should know upfront with Longlegs are two things. First, it is a very stark, cold, purposeful, and slow film that will require patience even through its relatively short runtime. There is a reason many have compared it to Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs and you can see its influence all over Perkins’ film, but don’t for one second think this is some cheap rip-off or secret legacy “sequel” despite its similar 1990s set-aura. This is its own beast, one that is as sharp and confident as the Oscar winner and well ahead of the plethora of smart, interesting horror films we have been spoilt with this year.

From its get-under-your-skin opening scene to its suffocating, stark, and intoxicating cinematography from Andrés Arochi, the film will swallow you whole like a snake and not let go until you’re broken. Arochi, making his feature debut behind the camera after working on shorts and other film projects, helps immerse you in Perkins’ vision: it has a chilling, bleak look that always feels composed and measured, transfixing you the entire run time as it moves through dark corridors and offices with many shots from behind the protagonists, almost sharing in their fear as they try to decipher what is around the corner.

The second, of course, is Nicolas Cage but this is not as we know him. Known for his outlandish performances in countless films where he has sought to echo his love of German Expressionism and other acting influences, Cage is unrecognisable on all fronts here, miles away from the performer we know and love. Covered in prosthetics, muted colours, and a scruffy blonde wig, the ever-evolving actor is at his very best here, stripped of some of his usual facets to create one of his creepiest, most nuanced, and unnerving turns to date, especially when his character breaks out into song. There’s something far creepier in that than anything else.

Coupled with another brilliant turn from Maika Monroe as the FBI detective crippled by the demonic burdens of her childhood, it’s a brilliantly rounded partnership. The film’s only dampener is in its final act (or chapter, as the film portrays it) which, while following through on the story and its themes of the occult, isolation, trauma, and parenthood, feels flat and somewhat underwhelming in comparison to its other parts. There’s one exception and that’s Cage’s final moments which have to be seen to be believed.

You could say that should go into almost every film knowing as little as possible, but it has never been more true than with Longlegs in that you should go into it knowing as little as possible: spoiler culture is rampant in modern times and it would be the most monumental of shames if Perkins and his filmmaking compatriots are undone by the usual “here’s the whole plot” mentality of some on the internet. Go in cold, come out terrified, as Longlegs is one of the year’s most haunting but utterly mesmerising experiences.