Being marketed as the scariest horror in years and drawing comparisons to the likes of The Silence of the Lambs is enough to entice most horror/film fans to make a trip to their local cinema to watch. And whilst I enjoyed it, I feel the comparisons between this and Silence of the Lambs are more likely to have a more of a detrimental effect on people’s overall thoughts on Longlegs. I’d say this is more along the lines of films like Sinister or The Autopsy of Jane Doe- basically there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye.
“FBI Agent Lee Harker is assigned to an unsolved serial killer case that takes an unexpected turn, revealing evidence of the occult. Harker discovers a personal connection to the killer and must stop him before he strikes again.”
Just going to warn you, if you go in expecting to see a film similar to Se7en or Silence of the Lambs, you will come out disappointed. Whilst this fully leans into the true crime thriller aspect, Oz Perkins does wonderfully to flip things on its head and take the film in an entirely different direction. Not going into detail and spoiling it for anyone, but Perkins fully embraces the horror aspect of the story and plays with the occult in ways other thrillers haven’t.
Whilst this won’t be to everyone’s taste, it’s a bold and relatively exciting direction to go. I will admit, there were a handful of times I struggled to keep up and I felt it was a bit clunky and disjointed. Seemingly moving from one random tangent to the next, but Perkins takes you full circle and all is revealed in the final act. But, I think that was kind of the point. And for me personally, I thought the pay-off/big reveal was worth it.
The film is beautifully shot with some fantastic set pieces throughout the film, the use of colour in this I particularly enjoyed. The wide long shots were haunting and kept me on edge the entire time; think it may just be because I’ve seen too many horror films, but I was always looking for something lurking around in the background. Do get glimpses of symbolism used similarly in the likes of The Exorcist and Omen with some quick editing flashing only a few frames in a matter of seconds; works well to be fair. Soundtrack and sound design was great as well- even better if you’re a T-Rex fan.
The cast were a joy to watch, par Cage (in a good way) but I’ll come to that in a minute. Maika Monroe was great as troubled, clairvoyant FBI agent Lee Harker. You can see the similarities to the likes of Clarice Starling, but Harker’s more on edge and appears a lot more guarded and harder to read than Starling was. Alicia Witt is fantastic as Ruth Harker (Lee’s Mum), pretty nerve-racking to watch if I’m honest. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was going on with her, was something off from the get go. Rest of the supporting cast were great and gelled really well on screen, Blair Underwood in particular.
Of course the big talking point of Longlegs, is going to be the titular character himself played by Nicholas Cage. So how was Cage? Well, in short, bloody terrifying. Throughout the years of watching horror films, I can safely say there are a few characters that stuck with me, for the wrong reasons, and I found genuinely difficult to watch. Bill Moseley’s unhinged Otis Driftwood in Rob Zombie’s Firefly trilogy, Michael Rooker’s titular character in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Ted Levine’s Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs, R. Lee Ermey's Sheriff Hoyt in the Texas Chainsaw remake and Joe Spinelli’s serial killer Frank Zito from 80s cult classic Maniac, for example are just a few. Well, I think I can safely say Nic Cage’s Longlegs in the latest addition to that list.
Hidden under a substantial amount of prosthetics and make-up, it’s hard to comprehend this is Cage in the first place- he is unrecognisable in this film. I won’t lie he did keep me up a bit when I tried going to sleep last night, which I think speaks volumes as he’s not even in the majority of the film. Of course, the look and make-up do a certain amount, but Cage is genuinely creepy and disturbing throughout. If he doesn’t make your skin crawl when you watch this, I’d probably think about seeing some sort of licensed therapist. I can't even watch the bloody trailer now without his voice sending a chill up my spine.
Overall it’s a pretty great film, but I wouldn’t say this is the next Silence of the Lambs at all. This is strong enough to stand on its own merit; I can only hope they don’t ruin it with a sequel though. As much as I’d love to see Cage bring Longlegs to life again on the big screen, I don’t think Perkins could replicate a film like this a second time.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, but in the grand scheme it’s a relatively small hiccup in an otherwise strong and incredibly unique horror film. Which, let's be honest, is a nice surprise in todays run of horror prequels, sequels and remakes. This definitely isn't as ‘mainstream’ as it’s being advertised, more like one of those indie horror gems that takes everyone by surprise. Norman Bates would be proud to be fair. Either way, make time to go see this one.
Longlegs is out now.
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