FAMILY SECRETS // A FILM REVIEW OF “LONGLEGS”
BY MATEO MORENO
From the very first, unsettling moments in LONGLEGS, the tone is immediately set: this is the kind of horror film meant to throw you off balance. To disturb you and keep you talking about it for days. From it’s sudden and screeching music to the scene cutting before you expect it to, it wants to keep you on your toes and remind you that you’re not safe. And for the entirety of the film, I didn’t. The nightmare feel begins immediately with the first scene: shot like a home movie with the frame purposely cut short. A young girl is in front of a house that’s covered with snow. A car pulls up and a man just out of full view approaches her. Even though it’s only the first few moments, I don’t even want to give away this moment, but it’s safe to say that it affects nearly every moment after.
We cut to many years later, somewhere in the 1990’s, and we meet our protagonist Lee Harker (Maika Monroe). She’s new to the FBI and is on her very first case. Something more than a hunch but less than a psychic vision reveals to her where the killer is and the bureau lots their sights on her, knowing they can help her on a case that’s stumped them for ages. Agent Carter (Blair Underwood) sets Harker up with her second case: to investigate a series of murders that have gone unsolved. They all involved families and usually center around a father or mother kills the other and then the children and then themselves. It’s horrific but something about her somewhat psychic abilities makes Carter think she might be able to crack the code on this one, or at least open a new doorway of information. And that she does. The killer is leaving Zodiac like clues to be de-coded and seems to love playing this game with Harker. Harker’s good at this game too, as she does indeed crack this case further open than anyone else has been able to. Is it just cult-like killings? Rituals? Or something more supernatural? Unlike many horror movies, we know who the killer is. He goes by Longlegs and is creepily played by Nicholas Cage in yet another gonzo performance.
Longlegs is not like most horror films you’ve seen, especially big budget American horror films. The performances are exaggerated purposefully and everything seems just a tad bit off, like a dream. Or more suitably, a nightmare. Maika Monroe plays her character with a fidgety, possibly neurodivergent uncertainty. She seems to be nervous about everything she says, as if she’s going to give something away that she wants to keep closer to her chest. It’s a great performance, one that throws you off center, just as the film does, and she’s a perfect lead into this nightmare realm. Blair Underwood gives a stoic and strong performance and the farther we go into the film, the meatier his scenes get. Alicia Witt plays Harker’s oddball mother, always reminding her to say her prayers to “keep the devil away.” Much like Monroe’s performance, it’s unnerving. But the performance that will be most talked about is Nicholas Cage, who looks unrecognizable (that is, once we finally fully see him), in prosthetics that make him look like a plastic surgery addict that has gone terribly wrong. Cage is known for giving deliciously unhinged performances and he does not disappoint here. His Longlegs is truly frightening, a devil worshipping ghoul who won’t quite tell you the story that he wants you to listen to. He’s a serial killer playing with his victims, his audience and anyone in his path. There’s so much to say, but so little I can without spoiling all of the insane paths this film takes.
Writer/Director Oz Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in This House) has crafted a film that lays in the weird like a badge of honor and one that is actually unnerving. The real life son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins, horror is literally in his blood and he bathes in it. Setting this in the 1990’s, awash in the Satanic Panic of America, Perkins gives us a fever dream of a film, one that barely lets you breath and certainly doesn’t let you get comfortable. This is a miraculous scare, one that could certainly weave more stories inside its web or forever live on its own. At the moment, I’m not sure which one I would like more. Longlegs is definitely the best horror film this year, but more triumphantly, it’s one of the best horror films in ages. Let the oddness sink into you, and you’ll be hooked.
GRADE: A
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Oz Perkins STARRING Maika Monroe, Nicholas Cage, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt, Michelle Choi-Lee NOW PLAYING IN THEATRES EVERYWHERE