Is Longlegs the scariest movie of the last few decades? Will it make you cry, faint, crap your pants, kill you and send you straight to Hell like all of the crazy good marketing would have you believe?

Well, no…BUT, and this is a very big but, Longlegs is still an incredibly solid film, and so far it’s my favorite horror film of 2024.

Longlegs is a master class in tension, suggestion and insinuation. What that means is that it manages to remain terrifying and unnerving even without relying on scary imagery or jump scares. Those elements are still present, yet they aren’t the only thing that made this a scary watch. There’s a lot to simmer with once the credits roll, and while I do have some issues with the film, I’m super high on this one and definitely think it’s worth a watch.

The less you know about this the better, but here’s a very brief synopsis. The film centers around a young FBI agent tasked with tracking down an elusive serial killer going by the moniker “Longlegs”. His methods are a mystery yet his MO is not, targeting families of young girls whose birthdays all fall on the same date. 

Essentially, the film is a police procedural with horror elements; think Silence of the Lambs, Zodiac, or The Wailing. The story itself is rather straightforward, which is probably the weakest element of the film. It covers a lot of the beats you’d expect, which makes a lot of the revelations fairly predictable. Despite that, the film still manages to unnerve, startle and shock you on many occasions. How does it do this?

Like critic Roger Ebert once said: “It isn’t what a film is about, it’s how it is about it”. And boy howdy, is this movie about it. Director Osgood Perkins’ patient and somewhat distancing approach to this tried story genre instills a constant feeling of dread throughout, where even in the slower moments you don’t believe you’re ever truly safe. There’s a couple of ways he achieves this, like through the editing. Every impending cut feels like a threat, a trend made very clear from the first few minutes. The combination of jarring cutting and overblown sound design makes it feel like you’re rounding a dark corner and have to prepare yourself for whatever lies on the other side, only you’re having to do this many, many times. There’s also an air of exploitation film to it, unnerving you with quick flashes of uncomfortable images and framing many scenes like old home movies thanks to its boxy aspect ratio. Not only does this do a great job at establishing time period, it also makes some moments strike you personally. Well, if you grew up with old camcorders like I did.

You may notice a lot of the scenes are shot with a wide lens, often employing a deep depth of field, basically meaning that everything from the subject to the environment is sharing the same amount of focus. This often leaves a lot of open space, which gives room for “suggestion” as I mentioned before. Whether it be another room in the corner of the frame or a treeline, the film is always hinting that someone or something can move into view at any moment. You know how in old cartoons you can tell what part of the background is going to move because it’s drawn differently from the rest of its surroundings? This is essentially like that, only amplified tenfold. And the wild thing is…rarely does anything actually walk into frame. Many of these scenes opt for silence, amplifying simple sounds to always have the air of dread surrounding the moment. Even though nothing traditionally scary is happening, you’re still holding your breath. There’s a great balance of these kinds of scenes because, once something does decide to wander into view, you might have let your guard down after so many fakeouts.

Of course, horror is only as effective as how well the actors sell it. Maika Monroe portrays Lee Harker, a young FBI recruit with a knack for intuition, almost like a sixth sense. This ability is what draws her into the case of Longlegs, a killer whose methods confound law enforcement, as they almost seem otherworldly. Harker is an intentionally difficult character to connect to, being incredibly socially awkward with a haunted sort of aura. The heavy use of wide angles amplifies this, rarely ever letting us get closer to her, giving a good chunk of the film an almost voyeuristic vibe to it. Without spoiling why, I think a wooden character like this works once you start to clue into the implications behind it. She is, in a way, a representation of emotional repression, the unraveling of which drew a lot of parallels to shockingly common occurrences you may recognize. I don’t think this makes her the best character for the job, nor does it allow her detective work to be as rewarding or intuitive as it could be, yet Monroe does an admirable job.

Then there’s Mr. Longlegs himself, portrayed by Nicolas Cage. A film like this is only as good as its villain, and luckily Cage manages to be very unsettling. The makeup and prosthetic work is nightmarish, but not cartoony. He feels based in reality, yet is just off enough to feel otherworldly at times. Despite this though, I did find Cage to not exactly disappear into the character as much as I’d like. If you’re familiar with his other work, you know his style can be very noticeable and uniquely his own, which does bleed into his performance here. This does dampen a bit of the mystique behind him once he’s on camera, yet the film knows how to manage his screen time well. He’s hardly present yet his influence is always felt, digging into the back of your head, almost omnipresent in the negative space and the shadows . Cage makes some bold decisions with his manner of speech and even some rock and roll influence, and while he does indulge in some Nic Cage-ism, it’s rarely ever not effective.

Longlegs is a blend of crime thriller and supernatural horror aesthetics, which I enjoyed for the most part. The mystery of the killer, whether or not his Satanic occultism is legit or not, and how he pulls off these seemingly impossible murders were fun to speculate on in real time, until the third chapter essentially lays all its cards out on the table. While I appreciate the film’s forwardness, it does make the climax lose a bit of the excitement I had for the first two chapters. Some people may feel the same way and even find the ending to be abrupt and open ended, but I honestly didn’t mind. Despite some small, welcome injections of humor, this is an incredibly bleak film; one where you believe evil has already won and may continue to succeed in the future. The ending doesn’t wrap everything up neatly, leaving you to wonder if there’s really any hope of moving on past this nightmare. 

It may not be the scariest film of the last few years, but that shouldn’t undermine just how effective Longlegs can be. There is plenty of substance to the style Perkins employs here, managing to be chilling without revealing too much up front. The beautifully shot and framed cinematography houses a haunting essence of dread and discomfort that stayed with me throughout and even after I left the theater. Its narrative occasionally shows faults, with its detective work not always being the most enthralling and its final act maybe being too out-there to match the rest of the film. Even still, I thoroughly enjoyed this and I’m actively looking forward to seeing this again, as I’m sure there are more secrets and hidden elements to be discovered on a rewatch. One thing is for certain: NEON’s advertising is doing it better than anyone right now. Experiencing the marketing itself is a horror movie all on it’s own, and I honestly recommend you give it a watch as well.

RATING