First things first, the marketing team for Longlegs have played an absolute blinder. In a world of trailers that give away entire films they stuck to atmospheric teasers and, crucially, kept Nicholas Cage's titular serial killer more or less completely in reserve. A brave decision that allows the films choice of slowly revealing one of the most disturbing antagonist of recent times to have maximum bite.
The film follows timid FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) who, upon revealing herself to potentially be physic, is seconded to a long unsolved serial killer case that involves multiple families being butchered in apparent murder suicides. The only connections are the murder dates and cryptic letters left at the scenes by someone named "Longlegs". Once Harker gets involved the long cold case comes to the boil and she discovers she herself may be linked to the killer.
Anyone who has seen director Osgood Perkins previous work will know the son of Norman Bates has his own pace, a slow one. This film is no different, dolling out plot and reveals sparsely but that isn't to say time is wasted. The atmosphere is oppressive, with just enough jarring sound and jump scares to keep the audience on their toes without ever relieving the tension. More often than not that open door behind the protagonist is just an open door but you can never be sure something isn't about to walk past. Especially after the first few minutes of the movie let you know the rug can be pulled at any time. A veteran of quality horror titles like It Follows, Monroe knows exactly how to draw the viewer in with her performance, carrying the quieter moments and anchoring the more outrageous.
Speaking of which, Longlegs himself is a sight (and sound) to behold. Glimpsed and heard in snippets for the first half of the film he is Nic Cage in full "Nic Cage" mode but through a creepy, disgusting lens you won't have seen before and will probably be grateful to never see again. Cackling and warbling like a demented southern preacher under heavy prosthetics it's a no holds barred performance and the fact that it doesn't just work in such a physiological film as this but completely elevates it is testament to the skill of both the actor and the director.
Not everything here is up to the quality of the performances and tension building. The actual events struggle to live up to the atmosphere and once you've spent a decent bit of time with creepy Cage what happens after feels like an anticlimax. The story also relies on some clunky exposition to explain itself and even then it doesn't feel like events are completely crystal clear. As a result, the detective side of the story is fairly unsatisfying.
Longlegs is not quite an edge of your seat fright fest and certainly not a Silence of the Lambs calibre dark police thriller but it is a disquieting and macabre mood piece that has its own unique style and features a horror villain for the ages.
7 creepy doll prizes out of 10.
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