-Written by Kyle Bain.
Brought onto a case to track down and apprehend notorious serial killer Longlegs (Nicolas Cage), FBI Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) must use her gift of intuition to stop more families from being murdered. This dark, harrowing horror flick is truly terrifying, maybe more so than any other horror film of the past decade. It claws at you from beginning to end, and the intensity becomes increasingly powerful with each and every revelation.
I’m not squeamish or jumpy, and rarely is a film capable of chilling me to my core, but Longlegs, written and directed by Osgood Perkins, is a film that did just that. With the exception of a handful of moments throughout the course of the film that are used to force viewers’ guard down, Longlegs never relents in regard to its intensity.
How Perkins achieves this is quite interesting, and a tactic that I don’t ever remember seeing employed in the past. Rather than use the rule of thirds to entice viewers, to force them to look into the background, he develops a film that is filmed symmetrically. Things on screen often appear equal, even–and that doesn’t give viewers far to look. What that does is allow us to focus on whatever might be in the center of the screen at any given moment–and that’s often Lee Harker. Then, every once in a while Longlegs shifts in this regard, applying the rule of thirds to expose more scenery–and in those moments we have no choice but to anticipate that something is lurking around the corner (or even in plain sight somewhere in the background). This juxtaposition forces that anticipation, and viewers ultimately end up on the edges of their seats again and again as a result of what Perkins and his Director of Photography, Andres Arochi, are able to create throughout.
Similarly, the sound design works to develop intensity as well. Sound Designer Eugenio Battaglia constantly uses sound to entice viewers, to pull them into the film, and to further develop that all-important intensity. The score and soundtrack supplement the film, but the sound design of Battaglia is beyond that, essential to the film in more than one way. Every sound effect heightens the horror, and I often found those sound effects causing my skin to crawl, creating a genuine level of discomfort that carried me to the next scene. Longlegs is a masterfully made film, and the cinematography and sound design are the things that stand out the most.
Cage is hit or miss for me, sometimes enthralling me and other times failing to entertain in the slightest. Longlegs sees him at his best. I can’t see anyone else capable of pulling off the titular character like Cage did. He gets to be the weird guy, randomly singing and/or screaming–but he, like every other piece of this film, is tasked with ensuring that viewers are scared shitless. He finds a brilliant balance in his performance, truly entertaining me every step of the way, and scaring me from time to time as well.
Like many of the other aspects of Longlegs, Cage and Monroe work to juxtapose one another throughout. Again, Cage gets to play the eccentric, unhinged bad guy, while Monroe’s Lee is level headed, present in the moment, and the voice of reason. While they don’t share much screen time, the narrative is presented in a way that allows each of their presence to play off of one another brilliantly. Together they create something vibrant, even tangible–and it continues to help develop the film from beginning to end in the best ways possible.
Horror films can be a challenging watch. I want films of that genre to terrify me; I want them to, after I’ve finished watching, force me to think about the possibility of nightmares later on. Longlegs is just that, a powerful installment in the horror canon–one that I truly believe will stand the test of time. Longlegs is a film that will fuck with your head, have you wondering whether or not you have any idea what’s transpired over the course of an hour and half, but also have you begging for more. This is a spectacularly horrifying film that will curl your toes.
Written & Directed by Osgood Perkins.
Starring Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt, Michelle Choi-Lee, etc.
9/10 = DROP EVERYTHING AND WATCH IT NOW
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