The scariest movie of the year so far delivers a tense and creepy 1990s-set serial killer procedural that plays out like a long episode of the X-files. (spoiler free)
I saw Longlegs last Tuesday and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it – it's that good.
As a caveat, I'm a big horror fan, and nearly nothing scares me. The only movies I tend to avoid are over-the-top generational trauma A24 movies like Hereditary. But reviewing (and even recommending!) genre films can be hard because non-fans tend to criticize the very things that tend to be hallmarks of the genre — things like excessive gore, overall feelings of unease, and the common plot tropes (haunted houses, supernatural killers).
But even among people who love horror, one person's yuck is another's yum. Some folks in particular think jump scares are cheap. When overdone, yes, but when they're perfectly timed with a scene and the backing track, they can be incredibly effective. (One of my favorite jump scares of all time is in Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House in episode 8. I still think about it to this day).
Longlegs was for me incredibly effective as a horror movie, though it's less straight-up horror and more of a psychological thriller. The comparisons in the lead-up marketing were correct in that it's like a modern-day Silence of the Lambs. Granted, Silence of the Lambs is a better movie, but if you've been searching for a contemporary vibe-equivalent, it hits the spot. Its darkness and supernatural elements reminded me of my love for the X-Files in the best possible way, especially in some of the more intense, murder-y monster-of-the-week episodes.
The plot
Lee Harker (played by scream quieen Maika Monro) is a young FBI agent in Oregon in the 1990s, and she's blessed with a psychic ability that allows her preternatural insight into serial killer cases. Lee is weird, isolated, and not quiet right. She gets picked by her boss (played by Blair Underwood) to work on the Longlegs cold case that's suddenly hot again. Over the past 20 years, fathers out of the blue have been murdering their wife and children out of nowhere, and left behind at the grisly scenes are cryptic notes signed simply "LONGLEGS."
Lee goes all True Detective on the case and eventually figures out who Longlegs is, and along the way evil dolls, satanism, family ties, and an ex-glam rocker also get involved. The ending gets wrapped a little too nicely, in my opinion, but not enough to seriously affect my enjoyment of the overall story. There's a twist that's predictable but still extremely spooky and somehow gets even more spooky the more you think about it.
The vibe
Oz Perkins, the director of Longlegs, is also the son of tortured Psycho star Anthony Perkins. With this movie, he has created an instant classic when it comes to dark, foreboding, and uncomfortable vibes. The film stock is muted and gray, and there's tons of claustrophobic and dark, wood-paneled '90s walls. The sound design — which alternates between complete silence and writhing, atonal, and building synth shrieks — is EXTREMELY effective in enhancing the mood and jump scares. Some of the scariest moments are simple shots that remind of the best moments in Insidious and The Conjuring, which is something I've been searching for now for years.
Let's talk about Nic Cage
I managed to stay away from most of the wild promotional and marketing material before entering the theatre, so I barely know that Nic Cage was set to be the titular villain. I was a tad worried I'd ONLY be able to see crazy ol' Nic and nothing else, but I'm happy to report that's not the case. Nic becomes Longlegs in a way that's fairly unsettling.
Longlegs is set to become an iconic villian in the horror cannon. He looks like a cross between Robert Smith from the Cure, Jennifer Coolidge, and Danny DeVito's Penguin in Batman Returns. Rather than wearing all black, he's always wearing dingy white clothes. His face is clearly the victim of botched strip-mall plastic surgery. I read an interview that said Longlegs is so in love with the devil that he's tried to carve his face into something beautiful, and it hasn't worked out well.
Most of the time, I forgot I was watching Nic Cage, which is a testament to his craft. Occasionally in one of his extra-long villain monologues I'd see him, and in these situations I actually laughed (along with most of the audience). Longlegs is VERY over the top while also still terrifying.
The Babadookification of Horror Villains
Remember when Netflix's algorhithm made a mistake and accidentally classified The Babadook as an LGBTQ pride film? The internet took the streets and made him into a meme, one that I very quickly loved and appreciated.
Longlegs himself is going through something similar on TikTok right now for people with very weird For You Pages like myself. There's one part of the movie where Longlegs sings a VERY weird yet catchy song asking to be let in to a family's house, and people on TikTok are adding it humorously to videos of cats asking to be let in and diners waiting outside restaurants before they open.
I love the intersection of horror and humor, and while Longlegs is a very scary movie, I did find myself laughing out loud multiple times during it. I think that's the sign of an enjoyable horror experience. Laughing at absurdity lets off steam if it's done right (I'm not talking about crap like Scary Movie, obviously). With Longlegs, there's more than enough tense, spooky moments to make up for the occasional scene where you remember "Oh yeah! Nic Cage is doing his thing, huh?"
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The Math
Baseline Score: 9/10
Bonuses: Absolutely unbeatable spooky vibes; Nic Cage excels as an ex-glam rocker satanist; there are actually even scary parts for seasoned horror fans.
POSTED BY: Haley Zapal is a lawyer-turned-copywriter living in Atlanta, Georgia. A co-host of Hugo Award-winning podcast Hugo, Girl!, she posts on Instagram as @cestlahaley. She loves nautical fiction, growing corn and giving them pun names like Timothee Chalamaize, and thinking about fried chicken.
