Longlegs (2024) Horror Movie Review | The Film Magazine

Longlegs (2024)
Director: Osgood Perkins
Screenwriter: Osgood Perkins
Starring: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt, Michelle Choi-Lee, Dakota Daulby

One would be remiss to ignore the pervasive presence of evil in humanity. The digital age bombards us with stark reminders of malevolence through social media feeds and news coverage, while many also confront the harsh realities of cruelty and violence in their own lives. Within this context, the serial killer genre in film and media emerges as a curious phenomenon. These stories take the grim realities of human cruelty and transform them into fictional narratives, aiming to capture and explore the nature of evil. Oftentimes these portrayals are hauntingly effective, drawing us into the darkest corners of the human psyche; other times, they provoke questions about our fascination with such macabre subjects and whether these stories offer anything more than mere spectacle. 

This conundrum lies at the center of Osgood Perkins’s latest horror film Longlegs (2024), where depictions of the human capacity for evil are plentiful. The film follows Lee Harker, a painfully anti-social FBI agent whose strange sense of psychic intuition lands her a role in solving the unresolved case of a local serial killer known as Longlegs. Although the presence of Longlegs at any of these brutal killings cannot be proven, mysterious letters reminiscent of the ones in David Fincher’s Zodiac are left as a sort of signature at each scene. Longlegs is known to conduct each murder in a systematic way, where the father of a family is seemingly coerced or convinced into killing his own. Through the investigation of each murder case, Harker uncovers a rather personal connection to Longlegs himself and is forced to race against time in order to stop him from taking more victims. 

There is an overarching tension that suffocates the film, partly due to its stellarly ambiguous marketing campaign. For the months leading up to Longlegs’ release, potential fans were teased with neck down depictions of Nicolas Cage in his role as the deranged killer. There were even teasers for the film that featured the recorded heartbeat of actress Maika Monroe as she first laid eyes on Cage’s unrecognizable bodily transformation, which only added to the speculation that this film would be regarded as one of the most frightening of the year. Perkins is indeed successful in transferring this sort of tension from the marketing to the screen, as we don’t truly get a look at the unnerving presentation of Cage’s character until further into the film than may be expected. This careful withholding of Longlegs’ true visage creates a poetic form of dread towards the fear of the unknown. It is this fear, the darkened void where the mind fills in the blanks with its own terrors, that often holds a more profound menace than what is eventually revealed. The anticipation builds like a slow-burning fuse, and though the film’s later scenes deliver genuine shocks, they are tempered by the eerie suspense that preceded them. The true horror lies not in the face we eventually see, but in the shadows of our imagination where the most sinister fears are born. 

That is not to say that both Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage’s respective performances are unsuccessful in living up to the expectations set in anticipation of the film’s release, as both actors deliver truly career-defining work. In fact, in an alternate universe where The Academy Awards have not completely outlawed (in theory not in actuality) the inclusion of the horror genre, Monroe would certainly be in the running for her first Best Actress nomination. Her performance is as awkward as it is intriguing, where she is able to keep the audience’s attention even when placed in a scene with one of the most visually disturbing depictions of a villain in recent cinematic history. Nicolas Cage’s performance as Longlegs takes on an almost otherworldly intensity, creating a portrayal so deeply unsettling that it leaves a lasting impression long after the film concludes. His physical transformation into his ghostly character is so profound that he becomes nearly unrecognizable, and at times even becomes quite comedic in the pathetic characterization of him. This willingness of Cage to lean into the rather “silly” aspects of his character may remove some audience members from the drowning sense of fear the film intends to create, but it certainly does not take away from the terrifying depth and intensity he brings to the role. 

A sense of cold emptiness is quickly established in the visual language of the film, hearkening back to Perkins’ 2015 winter-toned film The Blackcoat’s Daughter. Wide shots of rather bland rural settings become menacing in their details, as devilish shadow figures appear at the very edge of frames in such a quiet manner that many audience members may miss them. The film opens with perhaps its most stunning composition, a 4:3 shot of Lee’s childhood home that feels like something pulled straight out of her family’s home video collection. Cinematographer Andres Arochi skilfully shifts between aspect ratios to denote flashbacks, enhancing the storytelling and drawing us deeper into the haunting memories and psychological depths of the characters. Arochi’s work is a huge asset to the film’s intention of unnerving as many people as possible and ultimately creates an aesthetic that fits perfectly into the large cinematic world of Osgood Perkins. 

Obvious comparisons to classic serial killer horror films like Jonathon Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs and David Fincher’s Se7en are valid up until the film’s final act. It is, unfortunately, in this act where the film loses its chance to reach the iconic status of its inspirations. Although the ending seeks to reveal profound themes, it ultimately leaves us with unanswered questions and a lingering sense of dissatisfaction. 

Despite its occasional missteps and series of unresolved narrative threads, Longlegs emerges as Osgood Perkins’ most audacious vision; a haunting exploration of fear and darkness. The film, in its best moments, crafts an experience that lingers in the shadows of the mind. Perkins’ work suggests that the true face of darkness is not a distant nightmare but an omnipresent force, a reminder that the horrors we seek in fiction are often reflections of the fears we harbor in reality. In its evocative imagery and unsettling narrative, Longlegs both frightens and enlightens.

Score: 19/24

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Written by Jake Fittipaldi

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