‘Longlegs’ is a Menacing Masterpiece [Review]

Title says it all. I hate declaring for something being a masterpiece so blatantly, and I especially hate doing it when there are things, albeit very few things, about the movie Longlegs that make it imperfect, but the lingering impact that this movie has on me simply forces my hand here. I’m not going as far to say that I’ve been having nightmares in the aftermath and that I was so scared while watching that I desperately wanted to look away, but I also can’t stop thinking about Longlegs. This movie has a haunting aura that is very hard to describe, the best way I can vocalize it via writing is to say there is an energy, front to back, that is so consistently dark and weird and like nothing I have ever seen before. Throw a rock at the aggregated reviews so far from critics and audience and you won’t be able to miss the Silence of the Lambs and Se7en comparisons even if you tried. Longlegs is a serial killer movie, so those comparisons are apt, to a degree, but not totally. I have thoughts, different comparisons, praise and of course, those pesky nitpicks. Let’s get into Osgood (Oz) Perkins’ new horror masterpiece, Longlegs…

Like I literally just said, Longlegs was written and directed by Oz Perkins. Not that it’s totally relevant in regard to the conversation around Longlegs, but Oz Perkins is the son of Anthony Perkins (Psycho). And I only mention legacy here because I am such an enormous fan of Anthony Perkins, as are most, but I genuinely believe he is one of the ten greatest actors ever, so it is really cool that his son is making horror movies and solidifying the Perkins name in the Horror Hall of Fame. Oz Perkins has directed three movies prior to Longlegs, those include The Blackcoat’s Daughter, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House and Gretel & Hansel, all three being horror movies. Most non-horror fans will know him as an actor playing David the Dork from Legally Blonde. Some might know him from playing the young version of his father’s character, Norman Bates in the criminally underrated Psycho II. Very interesting Hollywood career for Oz. Longlegs seems like his coronation as one of the great horror filmmakers of the modern era, but he has been putting out quality work for ten years now. I urge those who haven’t to go check out his previous work…

Back to Longlegs, how can we go any further without mentioning the lead performances? Or story? Hm. Let’s start with the story. Longlegs is about an FBI agent, Lee Harker, played by modern scream queen Maika Monroe, who is tasked with catching a devil-worshiping serial killer named Longlegs, played by the great Nicolas Cage. I’m not going to spoil shit in this review, as this movie is far too good to be potentially ruined for future viewers, but I can say that Harker and Longlegs have a palpable connection. Longlegs begins with a scene shot in a very disorienting 4:3 aspect ratio camera lens, like it was filmed with a camcorder from the 1990s and doesn’t fit the widescreen format. With this early disorientation already in place, we meet a young girl at a remote farmhouse. The young girl goes outside to see who pulled up in a beat-up sedan, and she, and we, are quickly introduced to the titular Longlegs, who isn’t even entirely in frame while disturbingly speaking with the young girl, until he quickly bends down, and we cut to the opening credits before his face is entirely visible. More on this technical decision and technique later. The audience is then introduced to Lee Harker, who is a young and clairvoyant FBI agent. After showing off her impressive clairvoyance, Harker is brought in by Agent Carter, played by Blair Underwood, to assist with the manhunt for the slippery serial killer, Longlegs. This manhunt occurs presumably during the Bill Clinton era in the Pacific Northwest with flashbacks occurring sparingly throughout the movie in an undisclosed previous time period. About two thirds of Longlegs plays out with Carter and Harker doing the typical police procedural full of uncovering clues and lead following. All of the characters, Longlegs included, are perfectly fleshed out which leads to thrilling sequences of character, as well as audience discovery. All of this crescendos with the batshit fucking insane final act that will leave your jaw on the floor…

Longlegs is the absolute perfect amalgamation of a structurally tight plot with an eerie and downright unsettling atmosphere throughout that will have you disoriented from front to back. It’s so hard to regain your bearings right off the rip because the filmmaking style is truly so unique and strange. Technically speaking, and to put it simply, Longlegs is just very cool. I know that sounds simple minded and futile to say, I promise I’m not trying to waste your time, but let me explain. Most independent movies, although not their fault due to budgetary and time restrictions, amongst other things, have a very static feel for the most part. Even if there are a few sequences here and there where the filmmakers throw their entire weight at a scene to give it a big budget feel, you can tell the rest of the movie they are just doing what they can to get what they need on film to make it all work, no matter how creative. Longlegs on the other hand, doesn’t really have any of that staticity. And even when there are slower, exposition heavy scenes, the tone set in place is not only so eerie, but so consistently eerie throughout that you feel transported into this world, obviously then making its disturbing atmosphere all the more effective for the audience…

Of course, we can’t ignore the original score of Longlegs, done by Zilgi. I can’t emphasize enough how insanely important an original score is, especially in a horror movie. The score sets the tone in its own way and is a constant reminder to the audience that you are stuck in this depraved world. For some movies, like It Follows for example, the score is additive to the thrilling sequences, the audio and visual working in tandem to scare the audience. In Longlegs, the score oozes dread and doom, all the way through. The Longlegs score isn’t exactly memorable like the Halloween score or even the It Follows score, to use that example again, but it is the perfect soundscape for the energy required to set the tone exactly where it should be set. Also, hilarious that the old school rocker, T. Rex, is the real-life music of choice, I don’t want to spoil how T. Rex is used, but it was a charming addition…

Where to begin with the performances. Let’s start with Maika Monroe. Lowkey, maybe not even lowkey anymore actually, Maika Monroe might be the best horror movie actress of the last ten years. If we were to crown the modern Scream Queen, it would be very hard to not have Maika at the top based solely off of the results. The work speaks for itself. From It Follows (sorry to keep referencing this movie, I’ll stop now), to The Guest, to Watcher, to Significant Other and now Longlegs, Monroe not only is just serviceable as the lead, but she has a unique energy and voice that works so well for the lead in a horror movie. Her voice is one of a kind and she is physically adept in terms of running, which I know sounds so stupid, but it is actually important to look normal on the move, one of Tom Cruise’s best attributes is his running ability. I personally love Monroe the most in a smaller non-horror called Hot Summer Nights, which I would recommend to anyone and everyone. Monroe simply has that movie star presence that is so rare. If we knew exactly what it was that you needed to be a movie star, then everyone could be a movie star. Surfer girl, femme fatale, FBI agent, she can do it all. It’s indescribable but she has that it factor, whatever it is, and it shows in Longlegs…

You know who else has the it factor? Nicolas Cage. Mama, there goes that man again. Nicolas Cage has been doing this for forty years now. There is no one, and I mean absolutely no one, who can do what Nic Cage does. Doesn’t matter what the role is, whether it be a comedic lead, serious dramatic lead, off-the-rails crazy lead, subdued and sympathetic lead, lead of a family-friendly movie, action movie lead who carries the movie as normal guy, action movie lead who carries the movie with insane and frenetic energy and of course, as it relates to Longlegs, horror villain. The range that Cage has is simply unmatched, never before seen, and probably never will be seen again. I can heap praise on Cage for hours on end, but I mostly love that he is a cinephile who loves movies, and just wants to make cool movies, much like Tom Cruise actually (I apologize for the repeated references, I’ll try to cut that out). Cage as Longlegs has been the focal point of the marketing campaign for this movie. More on the marketing campaign later. What is great about Cage, and the Longlegs character in particular, is that you never know what to expect, he is unpredictable in the best way. Movie stars like Cage can just do whatever they want, and the filmmaker will let them cook, but in Longlegs, Perkins himself said that Cage loved the script, and wanted to stick to the amazing script that he loved. Cage brought the Longlegs character to life and made the character so distinct and unusual in the serial killer movie canon. I was expecting a supervillain, and what he actually was was something so different than that. I’m so interested to see the general consensus of Cage’s performance, because I genuinely believe that Cage deserves awards recognition for his performance as Longlegs. I don’t want to move on from performances without recognizing how great Blair Underwood and especially Alicia Witt were in Longlegs as well. I’ve seen plenty of movies and TV shows with them both, and honestly didn’t realize they had performances like this in them, no shots intended, but Underwood was so effective as Agent Carter, and Witt was downright outstanding as Lee Harker’s mom, Ruth Harker. The performances across the board in Longlegs were amazing, near perfect…

Okay, let’s talk about the marketing campaign briefly. As the Longlegs marketing campaign should be held as the gold standard for how to market a horror movie. Props to Neon for recognizing what they had, and perfectly executing a marketing campaign that both generated buzz and excitement for the movie, while also maintaining a mysteriousness that piqued the interest of not only horror hounds, but also the general movie-going public. I’d imagine that Longlegs is going to make a killing at the box office, as it is estimated to make in the $20 million range on opening weekend, which I actually think will end up being closer to $30 million, my bold prediction. The good word of mouth and quality product will be enormous for the financial success of Longlegs, and it should shatter its production budget on opening weekend alone. A massive all-around success for Neon and the filmmaking team. I’m sure plenty of champagne is being popped this weekend at the Neon offices…

Circling back to comparisons briefly. The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en comparisons are obvious. Law enforcement tracking down a horrifying serial killer, with twists and turns along the way. But for me, I couldn’t help but notice, of all things, how similar Longlegs was to the video game Alan Wake 2, which I covered for Wicked Horror. The Pacific Northwest setting, connection between hero and villain, atmosphere and even a few shots in particular had me doing the Leonardo DiCaprio/Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood point to the screen meme. Alan Wake 2 is very niche, so I don’t expect anyone to really understand that comparison, but for those that do, you will for sure see it like I did. In terms of movie comparison, I’d love to just chalk Longlegs up as a love letter to the serial killer subgenre, but I almost find that unfair to its uniqueness. I loved Longlegs because of how original and one-of-a-kind it was. I hate being hyperbolic, but there is really nothing like Longlegs, in my opinion, which is a hallmark of an all-time classic. Everything is technically inspired by or an homage to a previous piece of work, but the true greats are the movies that will one day be that movie that inspires others to pay homage, and I believe Longlegs could maybe be that…

Technically speaking, I was blown away by the storytelling as well as the filmmaking technique choices that were made and executed to perfection in Longlegs. From the flashbacks being in the camcorder style, the 4:3 aspect ratio made it clear to the audience that you were watching a flashback, which is way more important than it gets credit for in terms of understanding the storytelling. I’ve also never really seen this technique used to purposefully cut off characters from the frame to build tension and set it up so when the character jumps into frame, it’s like a jump scare. Just a really cool choice that worked so well. In regard to the storytelling, with the insanely creepy dialogue that flowed beautifully while also being so goddamn creepy, you can tell that the screenplay for Longlegs, written by Oz Perkins, was outstanding. I’d imagine it freed up and made the filmmaking teams’ job so much easier to exert all of their energy into making the already solid words on the page just look cool on screen, instead of trying to just make it work, if that makes sense. There was one quick shot in particular, of a shadowy demonic figure, that is the best horror movie shot I have seen in years and will most likely be the best horror movie shot of the year. There weren’t a lot of jump scares, per se, but the indescribable and upsetting violence, to go with dialogue in the final act of the movie, is more terrifying than any jumpscare you will see this year. Some of the moments in the final act are so disturbing that they linger with you long after you walk out of the movie theater. I know this because I am still thinking about them. Some of the things the characters are saying to each other are so weird and so scary, but presented so plainly, that you don’t really believe what you are hearing and watching because it is all so strange and dark. Even the use of dolls, something that might be a tiny bit overused at this point in horror, was pretty much spot-on perfect. The dolls used were different than anything I have seen, looked so lifelike, and worked perfectly on screen. If I had one bone to pick with Longlegs, and this is my only bone to pick, I wish the original score was more pronounced, and louder. Like I had mentioned earlier, and not to contradict myself as the score serves its purpose to set the dreary tone of the movie, but I couldn’t help but think if it was a little louder, and a little more energetic, then maybe that would have been additive to the terror and would make that score synonymous with the movie when looking back at the history of horror. Maybe that doesn’t matter, it’s a tiny nitpick, and I’m probably dead wrong, but it’s just something that came to mind while watching. Maybe the movie theater I saw Longlegs in just sucked and lacked the sound quality. I will most definitely be going to see this in a better theater again for this reason, and I would recommend seeing Longlegs in the highest quality movie theater you possibly can…

Overall, Longlegs is just quite simply a home run, all around. From its inception, to execution, to marketing, everything was firing on all cylinders. It’s so refreshing to see such an original piece of work that is so strange and complex, but if you boil it down to its roots and what it is trying to say, it is so simple. I desperately wish I could spoil Longlegs so that I can delve into its intricacies and theorize on what the filmmaking intentions were, but that would be doing an enormous disservice to the film going experience. I’m just playing my part but email me at alex.c.kane@outlook.com if you want to share your thoughts, I love digging into the nitty gritty. I really do believe Longlegs will be one of those movies that stands the test of time and will be looked at as an all-time classic, especially being the representative movie from this era of horror. Go see Longlegs in a theater, and if you can’t see it in a theater, make sure to watch it as soon as you can. Hail Longlegs…

Wicked Horror Rating: 9.5/10

From Neon, Longlegs is playing exclusively in theaters as of July 12th, 2024.

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