‘Longlegs’ Review
Stars: Maika Monroe, Nicholas Cage, Alicia Witt, Kiernan Shipka, Blair Underwood | Written and Directed by Osgood Perkins
Special Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) is assigned to an unusual serial killer case when she intuitively locates a separate suspect when her partner is shot. While on the case, she finds out about “Longlegs” (Nicholas Cage) — a reclusive and incredibly maniacal killer who writes clues in what appears to be satanic code. As Lee gets deeper into the case, she finds that she’s more personally connected than she realized.
If you have been anywhere near a social media platform in the last two weeks, you’ll have seen only one film being talked about — Longlegs. And it’s not just been talked about. It’s been heralded as the next best thing in horror, sending chills down people’s spines, making them too scared to ever watch a movie again. The discourse has perpetuated a level of hype around Longlegs that has made it untouchable… and that’s not actually the brilliant press the marketing team might think.
Instead, the hype means that Longlegs will naturally fall on its own sword. When you’re at the top, the only way is down, meaning that anyone reading the online fanfare before watching is going to head in disappointed. Gone is the chance to form your own unbiased opinion, as many will spend the 101 minutes comparing each frame to each tweet they saw about it earlier in the day. There is truly no such thing as perfection, and in this regard, Longlegs has failed its audience.
However, blessed be for those who were free of online judgement. Objectively, Longlegs is indeed the best horror entry of 2024… but it is far from perfect. At its core, the storyline is unoriginal, Cage’s killer visually is merely a Charles Manson wannabe covered in snow, and the overall vision isn’t free from unnecessary tropes (hello, cabin in the woods). What tips Longlegs into brilliance is the vision of Perkins himself, followed up by astounding performances from his immediate cast. We might remember him as the nervous wreck in Legally Blonde, but as a director, Perkins’ vision is playful. He’s not afraid to experiment with colour, form and visual tone, and the result is the most squeamish tapestry of discomfort for anyone sitting watching it.
If viewers approach Longlegs thinking it will be scary, they’ll be left underwhelmed. Instead, the movie is a master of horrific edging, keeping its audience in a heightened state of stress that never drops its guard throughout its runtime. There’s always something unseen, alluded to, or hiding in plain sight. Sure, the eventual twists are rather easy to guess and we’re not dealing with anything we haven’t seen before, but the beauty is all in the journey to getting there. Cage is deliciously unhinged in a way that only he can be, while the more sedate and considered Monroe is his perfect counterpart. Each blurs the line between what can be real and what isn’t, and it will be a while before we think of them as anything other than Harker and Longlegs.
**** 4/5
Longlegs is in cinemas now.
