JP Nunez
Hype can be dangerous. Sure, it’s fun to look forward to a movie that’s supposed to be the best thing since Norman Bates turned a shower into a veritable abattoir, but if you let your expectations get out of control, you risk setting yourself up for disappointment. It’s a difficult balance to maintain, so I walked into Longlegs with a bit of cautious optimism. Sure, the early reviews for the film were fantastic, but I didn’t want to let my excitement ruin the experience. I tried my best to stay as level-headed as I could, and now that my screening is over, I’m happy to report that this movie definitely lives up to the hype.
Longlegs was written and directed by Osgood Perkins, and it stars Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Alicia Witt, and Blair Underwood. In the film, Lee Harker is a young FBI agent assigned to help solve a string of murders committed by a man known as Longlegs. It’s a long-running case nobody has been able to crack, and to make matters worse, there’s no evidence that anybody other than the victims was present when these crimes took place.
It’s one hell of a mystery, but surprisingly, Lee is slowly able to make sense of it. She discovers that Longlegs appears to have a connection to the occult, and worst of all, she learns that she has a very personal link to the case as well.
From the very first frame, Longlegs had me completely hooked. Everybody in this cast, from the headlining stars down to the bit players who only get a scene or two, is completely believable, so I had no trouble at all immersing myself in this world and in this story.
In particular, there are two standouts I need to mention. First, Maika Monroe plays Lee, and if you’re familiar with her work, you won’t be surprised to hear that she absolutely crushes it. As usual, her performance is rather understated, but don’t let that fool you. Lee isn’t quite as lively as we normally expect our movie characters to be, but somehow, Monroe manages to make it work.
Every move she makes and every line she utters is totally convincing, so you can’t help but get on board with her and root for her to solve the case. What’s more, her performance also fits the tone of the film perfectly. Like everything else Osgood Perkins has directed, Longlegs is a slow, atmospheric, and almost meditative experience, and Monroe’s soft and gentle turn as Lee amplifies that vibe exponentially.
But as great as she is, the best performance in this movie belongs to Nicolas Cage. He plays the titular antagonist, and he completely loses himself in the character. He’s covered in so much makeup and prosthetics you can’t even recognize him, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Cage also changes his voice in a way we’ve never heard before, and he imbues the guy with a nearly palpable wickedness that will get under your skin in no time.
Even when he does something as seemingly ridiculous and innocuous as randomly bursting into song, you can almost see the evil oozing out of him, and when he becomes serious, this guy is the stuff of nightmares. He’s one of the most genuinely disturbing horror villains I’ve seen in a while, and that’s almost entirely due to Nic Cage’s insane(ly good) performance.
That great acting provides a solid foundation for Longlegs, and the story adeptly builds on it. The mystery surrounding this string of murders is fascinating, and it’ll keep you guessing up until the final few scenes. In particular, Osgood Perkins manages to slowly pull back the curtain in a way that simply raises more questions without providing any real answers, and every time we get a new piece to the puzzle, the whole thing just becomes more and more intriguing.
On top of all that, the horror in this movie is also excellent. It’s not the kind of scare-a-minute thrill ride we normally get from theatrical genre fare, but when the horror comes to the fore, it hits you like a ton of bricks. For example, much of the film is dripping with atmosphere, there are a couple of surprisingly effective gore effects, and when Longlegs goes for jump scares, they won’t just startle you. They’ll scare the living daylights out of you as well, and that combination is cinematic gold.
Then, when we learn what’s really going on, the payoff is just as good as the setup. I’m not going to spoil anything, but I can say that the final act of this movie will stick with you long after the credits begin to roll. It’s disturbing and shocking in all the right ways, and it even gives the film a great message.
It turns Longlegs into a cautionary tale against doing evil to achieve a good end, and when you look back at the rest of the film, you can see how it was building to that conclusion all along. In particular, Cage’s amazing performance as the killer shows us the true face of evil in a genuinely unsettling way, so you can’t help but want to get as far away from it as possible.
It helps make this one of the best and most effective horror movies of the year, so if you’re looking for something good to watch, I highly recommend that you check out Longlegs. The hype behind this film is real, and even though I just got home from the theater, I already can’t wait to go back and watch it again.
Longlegs is playing in theaters right now.
