Last night I had the time to watch Longlegs (2024) a new psychological horror movie written and directed by Osgood Perkins, this movie has been generating a lot of hype since its sneak peeks in early this year with some people claiming it to be one of the most horrifying films ever although for me the 2024 Horror Queen is still The First Omen (2024?). Despite the fact that I don’t believe that Longlegs is as terrifying as it was described to be as the pure evil itself or as a film that can cause panic attacks, it is still a very good and rather disturbing film that left a lasting impression on me. The plot is based on FBI agent Lee Harker who tries to solve a series of murders of families that have some connection with a certain character called Longlegs, the story gets more complicated as Harker delves further into the case and discovers that there is more to the events that she is investigating than what she could ever imagine. Thanks to the mysterious atmosphere, unique visuals and strong performances of Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage, Longlegs presents a chilling take on the topics of family, memory, and violence’s recurrence. It isn’t a masterpiece but it is a brave and striking film of the psychological horror sub genre that will be hard to forget, in my opinion in the top five horror movie of the year.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23468450/
- Platform: AppleTV+
A Slow Burn Atmosphere
From the beginning of the film Perkins wanted to give the audience the feeling of fear and terror rather than using a lot of screaming and blood, or even the classic scare jump that I have come to hate, its just not creative anymore. The film is not very fast paced but it builds up suspense gradually, thanks to the effective sound design, the camera work and the lighting. There are many sequences where Agent Harker is on her own examining crime scene or investigating a particular area and the camera focuses on her face to show her increasing anxiety and paranoia, the colors used in the film are mostly green, brown and gray and this enhances the gloomy feeling.I was amazed to see how Perkins manipulates the audience with such techniques as slow zoom, off centered framing and creepy moving shots which make Harker look like he is being dragged towards the target or evil. The sounds been use during the movie are particularly awesome taking in consideration the background noises and the short music clips been used to create and intensify the tension on the scene. Although there are several gory scenes that are more than enough to make the skin crawl, the movie’s horror comes from the general feeling that something is just not right and that evil is present in every scene.
Strong Performances Solidify the Story
The main protagonist of the film is Maika Monroe, who plays Agent Lee Harker, and the actress does a great job of not falling into the stereotype of the strong FBI agent. Instead, Harker appears as a smart but fragile character, who is obviously impacted by the events she is trying to uncover. Monroe is very effective in depicting the growing anxiety of Harker and his increasing obsession by his gestures and mimics. We see her as she becomes more and more reclusive and delusional as the case becomes her entire focus.
Nicolas Cage plays the role of the enigmatic Longlegs and the latter looks quite eerie in this guise. Cage looks an entirely different person, with his white face, scraggly hair, and a voice that sounds like it comes from a haunted character. Although he is not in the film much, Cage does not waste any of the time he has on screen by being incredibly ominous. There is a lot of tension between Monroe and Cage’s characters.
The secondary characters are also good with Alicia Witt doing a good job as Harker’s religious mother Ruth and Blair Underwood as Ruth’s FBI superior. The audience does not only get a feeling that even secondary characters are developed, which enriches the movie’s universe.
Exploring Dark Themes
On the surface this is a serial killer novel but Perkins implements a story telling style to explore some serious issues such as family, memory and violence. It is while Harker is investigating the murder that we are able to see how trauma and evil pass from one generation to another, within the same topic of trauma, the movie also put on the spot light on issues of memory suppression and how memories that we hold on tight either good or bad can be slightly modified or contained, lot of psychology within this aspect of the film.There is also a certain focus on the theme of faith and religion, with Harker’s mother being a religious woman while Longlegs is connected with the devil, it is possible to note that the movie shows that blind faith can be used as a way to cover up or even justify some awful actions.
I liked that the movie does not explain everything, there are some questions that remain unanswered which is good, gives you more to think about the movie once its over, this can be quite annoying to some people but this is entertaining so not everyone will have the same perception, I'm sure there is even a part of the audience who did not like the movie at all.
What Worked for Audiences
According to the reviews online I try to gather some of what the audience was able to appreciate, one of them is the fact that the film was very much dark and tense throughout its duration. The opening scene for instance appears to have left a lasting impression and perfectly laid the foundation for the rest of the movie. Maika Monroe did a great job as Agent Harker and many people liked her more vulnerable portrayal of the FBI agent, at the same time it is also worth mentioning that Nicolas Cage’s portrayal of the creepy Longlegs character was also a big hit among the audience.
The visuals and the setting of the movie were praised a lot as they really captured the atmosphere and the time period of the story, this were just some of the positives that I could found within a couple of small reviews on sites like IMDB or RTT.
What Didn't Work as Well
Some of the viewers complained that the movie was not as scary or as disturbing as the movie trailers made it seem, I think often when people say scare they mean no scare jump. Some viewers claimed that the plot becomes rather confused in the second half and some of the solutions provided are unconvincing or rather complicated to the point that they loose track and start to become boring, same goes for critics who complained about a similar situation where there were slow scenes and this may be irritating to those who were watching the movie with the expectations of a standard horror thriller and every other scenes goes over the top of the previous one.There were also some complaints that the movie does not go all the way in terms of its more fantastic or paranormal aspects, certain viewers noted that the final scenes which included a lot of display spoiled the dreamlike feeling that was established throughout the movie.
Nicolas Cage's Memorable Turn
He did not have much screen time to my like, I honestly was expecting more of this character but Nicolas Cage did very well in the role of the protagonist Longlegs, when talking about his performance only I felt Longlegs was two step above his previous work Arcadian (2024) when it comes to just acting. In order to get into the character Cage drop off all the pounds and looked nothing like himself with the help of ghostly makeup, gray hair and facial prosthetics, his sharp and unbalanced acting is quite disturbing, making the movie villain really creepy.
Cage seemed to have given his all to the role and many critics applauded him for that, as he develop a rather odd and creepy character with some of the best moments of the film are when he shares screen space with Maika Monroe and the chemistry between them is filled with tension and suspense, another aspect that I enjoy about the movie how they seem to work very well, something you can only start to feel once you have a seen a lot of bad and good movies. Even though Longlegs won’t be remembered as Cage’s best acting it has to be one of the most convincing and disturbing performances, in a good way.
This is not a film for everyone because at times it is gory and wont scare will only make you uncomfortable, the slow and rather ambiguous plot may annoy those who are seeking for action and clear plot, but for those who are ready to dive into the nightmare that is the film will find a lot to think about and discuss after the movie.
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