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Film: Longlegs
Year: 2024
Director: Oz Perkins
Writer: Oz Perkins
Starring: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage and Blair Underwood
Review:
This is a movie that was on my list of must see for 2024. I’m a fan of Nicolas Cage, who I learned was the villain. I also like our writer/director Oz Perkins. He has such a unique style to his films. I’m also a fan of Maika Monroe, who stars here. Interesting bit is that this kept selling out at my theater so that added to the anticipation.
Synopsis: in pursuit of a serial killer, an FBI agent uncovers a series of occult clues that she must solve to end his terrifying killing spree.
Now I’ll start here by saying that this is a movie told in chapters. We start this with a car pulling up near a house. It is winter as the ground is covered in snow. A girl looks out her window and goes outside. The car brought an individual that will be known as Longlegs (Cage). This is an eerie scene to kick us off.
We then shift to what is the present of the movie. I believe this takes place in the 1990s. Lee Harker is a new FBI agent. She is part of a task force that goes door to door for information, hunting down a serial killer. We see that Lee might be psychic. She is with Agent Fisk (Dakota Daulby). She points out that the person they’re looking for is in a house across the street. Tragedy strikes, but it also puts Lee on Agent Carter’s (Blair Underwood) radar. He oversaw this search.
There are tests that are ran and Carter decides to ask Lee for help for the Longlegs’ case. There is limited evidence and it leads nowhere. That night though, creepy things started. She calls her mother, Ruth (Alicia Witt). Lee hangs up as she thinks she hears someone in the house. She sees what looks to be a figure in the yard as well. When she comes back inside, there is a letter for her. It says to not open until her birthday. That doesn’t stop her and she discovers something that was left with the other murder victims. This is the first clue she needs to crack the coded messages found at the crime scenes.
I’ll end this part by saying that these murders are baffling. It appears that the father of the families is the one doing the killing. There are messages that are in a code, but the FBI hasn’t been able to crack it. These murders are stemming over 30 years as well. There is no sign of forced entry. They all have another thing in common. There is a child with a birthday of the 14th of the month the family is killed. This adds to the terror since Lee’s birthday is coming up and she was on this date as well.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Let me then start by saying that I’m writing this review a few days after seeing it so there could be things that were left out. Not to play my hand too much, but I dug what this one is doing. I believe that Perkins is now four for four with me by liking his features. This is one that I’m hoping I can revisit before making my end of year list as well.
Now that I’ve gotten that set up, the best part of this film is the atmosphere. Perkins sets the tone with the cold open. It is from there that we just get uncomfortable things. It could be Lee just seeing weird things or her talking to her mother who seems unbalance from early on. I did see that it is thought Lee is autistic. That make sense reflecting. I also think there is more to that, but I don’t want to spoil it either. An interpretation for sure is that she processes information differently. I’ll just go ahead and say here that the soundtrack also helps to create that uneasy feeling I had while watching this.
I have shifted a bit into discussing our lead of Lee, so let’s go more into this. She is from a single-family home. Her mother was a nurse. Something seemed to have happened and her mother had a mental break. I like how this is subtly introduced through conversations over the phone before we see her in person. Her mother is religious while Lee isn’t. This plays into an interesting aspect, especially with the character of Longlegs. I like the fact that we’re following Lee as she discovers evidence. There’s an interesting aspect to this that she didn’t reveal to Carter that Longlegs visited her. She also might have more of a connection as well. I’ll end this section by saying that Monroe was solid here.
Let’s then talk about Cage as Longlegs. There is another name for him, but I don’t recall it. He is quite creepy. He is made up to look even whiter than normal. There is something off about that. How he acts is another aspect to it as well. The first time we see him after the cold open, he says something to a woman working at a gas station and it bothers her. This isn’t the first time either. Cage is an interesting actor that if you don’t have a good enough director, he goes off the rails. I love that he flirts with it while still taking this role to a 10. He’s great here for sure. There are things that he says that you don’t know if you can trust and how that factor into things later is interesting.
One last bit about this story that I wanted to discuss is that I love how this is grounded, but it toes the line of being supernatural. Lee might be psychic or maybe she’s just lucky. Carter makes a comment there. As the evidence unfolds to help her piece things together, there are things that she cannot explain. I like how you can see these as extraordinary. Or maybe that’s just what we want to see. I’ll tread lightly here, but I dug what this was doing with these.
I think I’ll then finish out with the rest of the cast. Underwood is good as the agent who is in charge. He is taking a risk on bringing in Lee on a case that she might not be ready for. He’s desperate though. This does feel like it is borrowing from The Silence of the Lambs. Witt is good as Ruth. She walks a fine line as well with being over the top while we see glimmers of normalcy. I appreciated that. Michelle Choi-Lee works as Agent Browning and Daulby is fine in his role. We also have an appearance by Kiernan Shipka, she’s solid for what they needed. Other than that, Carmel Amit and Ava Kelders work as Carter’s wife and daughter. The acting is good across the board.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I’ve already said what I needed with the soundtrack and design. Those are great. Perkins also knows how to craft a shot. The cinematography is great. He does interesting things with the aspect ratio when we’re seeing things in the past. That was an different way of doing it. The framing would also be good here. There’s also the effects. This doesn’t necessarily have a lot. When they do though, it goes brutal. The blood looked great. That was impressive. This also ramps up the violence and how realistic that looked as well.
In conclusion, this film had hype to live up to even though I tried to temper my expectations. The best part of this is the atmosphere. I love the time it is set and using the element of a killer who is a Satanist. It feels like the ‘Satanic Panic’ is factoring in here. The acting is great here with Cage and Monroe leading the way. The rest of the cast is solid around them. This is also well-made from the cinematography, framing to the soundtrack. I’m glad that I saw this and can’t wait to get that second watch in.
My Rating: 9 out of 10