Longlegs (2024) – Film Review

Director: Oz Perkins
Cast: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Blair Underwood
Certificate: 15

By David Reid

The advanced word on this film suggests we should prepare ourselves for one of the best horror films for years. This takes me back a quarter of a century to the talk surrounding the release of The Blair Witch Project, which seemed at the time to be largely unjustified hype, although it has subsequently earned its place in the genre through its iconic and subsequently much-imitated use of found footage.

Longlegs opens as a sedan car drives up to an isolated house in a desolate snowy US landscape. We don’t see the driver- and the other characters and events of this scene remain unexplained for most of the movie’s relatively short run time of 1 hour 40 minutes. The use of T Rex music at key moments adds to the other worldliness feel created by writer/director Osgood Perkins (son of Anthony Perkins, of Psycho notoriety).

“Seemingly special powers”

We are introduced to new FBI Agent Lee Harper (Maika Monroe), who has come to the attention of her superiors on account of seeming special powers of detection, which cannot be fully explained. She is asked to investigate a series of connected murders involving multiple murders within family households, over three decades. These are linked by a series of coded letters found at each crime scene, signed Longlegs. Immediately we can see the links with The Silence of the Lambs, in terms of the lead character; and Zodiac, with the use of coded messages delivered by a suspected serial killer. Yet, this is far from a remake.

Unlike the former film’s Agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), Maika Monroe brings a preoccupied, almost distracted, quality to Agent Harper’s persona, in what is a strong performance. Her investigative partner, Agent Carter, in a notable supporting role, played by Blair Underwood, helps to articulate some of the audience’s questions, as Agent Harper makes progress on the case. And make progress she does, as this is a movie which dispenses with an opening act to provide us with detailed information about the main characters, their circumstances and motivations. A pared-down script tells us purely what we need to know, when we need to know it, without preamble. It knows that its audience are thrill seekers and consciously straps them into that emotional rollercoaster seat right from the off, dispensing with the usual formalities.

“Haunting quality”

The character of Longlegs is inhabited by Nicolas Cage, unrecognisable under layers of prosthetics. It’s almost as though, in his dual role as producer of this movie, after recent self-parody of his past acting performances in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, he is physically distancing his new creation from his past work. The way he plays Longlegs has a haunting quality, with elements of Heath Ledger’s Joker, including, not least, a chilling sense of continual unpredictability. All of this keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, as the story unfolds and as the bad guy- and his place in the story- is slowly and studiously introduced to the audience.

The cinemaphotography and direction are consistently true to a gradual revealing of this riveting tale. Agent Harker leads us through, what is effectively, a solo investigation, as we also learn that she has a personal connection to past events.

So, does this movie live up to the hype? For this reviewer it does, confirmed by a large shiver which started at the base of my spine and worked its way up, at one point. For maximum effect, it cries out to be viewed in the cinema. As the awarded Certificate 15 indicates, this is not a gory film, overall. As might be anticipated, there are a couple of significant twists in the story. This is a film which likes to keep us guessing and therefore engaged. If and when it achieves that, it is, however, unsettling, in the tradition of The Shining, in the way in which it gets under your skin- and stays there.