Longlegs

Mr. Pat

5 hours ago

4 min read

My son is wrapping up his fall soccer season, and yesterday it was grown-ups vs. kids. It was a lot of fun, and I had a good pace going with a hat trick, but then Dear told me I was going against eight-year-olds and I needed to take it easy. Pssh! If anything, I was helping them! On another positive note, I'm not as sore as I thought I was going to be, but I am exhausted because I didn't get much sleep and I had to go back to the morning show after a three-day weekend. Now I just have to wait for Kali to fall asleep so I can nap. So yeah, let's talk about...

Longlegs (2024)

Let me get one thing out of the way first because if I don't, I'll probably end up sprinkling some version of this fact throughout this review. Nicolas Cage is awesome and is one of the best actors alive. He plays the titular Longlegs, and he's one of the most unsettling characters I can remember seeing in a horror movie. Of course, he looks creepy as Hell, like whoever put together this character's look did a phenomenal job. And you know, because it's Cage, he's going to bring the energy to match whatever is wanted for him. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, the actress who plays the main character, Maika Monroe, saw Cage for the first time as Longlegs when she was shooting the interrogation theme. She had a microphone on her shirt that was able to pick up her heartbeat. When she started, her resting heart rate was 76 beats per minute. When it ended, it had spiked to 170 BPH. Cage is so fantastic in this, and you barely see him. He has so little screen time, but his presence permeates the entire thing. There's even a scene where he's shown to be a little pathetic and can be scared off, but somehow it makes him all the more creepy.

As for the movie itself, we follow along with Agent Lee Harker, who we learn quite early has some psychic gifts. We find that out as soon as her partner does, although any potential skepticism on our part doesn't hit us like it does her partner. She eventually teams up with her supervisor, William Carter, to investigate a series of murder-suicides. In each one, the father murders the family, and Satanic writings are left behind, signed by "Longlegs" matching no handwriting from the victims.

The movie has a definite Silence of the Lambs with a supernatural twist vibe where our heroes are racing against time to track down the serial killer, and you know what? It works really well; it's a very effective horror movie. Granted, I'm Catholic, so any movie where the antagonist is the devil is going to get under my skin more than most. I wouldn't say my innate aversion to the fallen angel is clouding my judgement, but the movie is already starting on second base. Of course, your mileage may vary, but the subject matter and Cage's performance made for a very uneasy viewing experience for me, in the best possible way, of course.

As for the movie itself, outside of the earlier stuff I mentioned, it's not so much scary; it's more of a psychological burn. But there is an extremely creepy scene where she's trying to put the clues together and starts hearing some noises outside. I could feel my heart beating faster as I watched Lee wander around while I knew there was someone, or something, in her home. The other highlight for me is the interrogation scene I alluded to earlier. It's Nic Cage in all his glory, and the ending of it made my jaw drop.

Longlegs is not what you expect. I try and avoid trailers for horror movies I really want to see, but looking at the synopsis, it seems like a pretty straightforward premise, but it takes some weird and satisfying detours that you wouldn't expect. It's not a traditional horror movie, but it keeps you off balance with a bunch of situations where you think it's going to go one way, but takes an abrupt and unexpected turn that keeps you sticking around, wanting to know more. The only thing I was able to predict was the fate of two characters. They were just too happy around each other to exist in a world like this.

Really, the only big drawback for this movie is that it only gives you a reason to care about three characters: Lee, her supervisor and Longlegs. You could make an argument for a fourth, but outside of what she represented, she didn't really do much for me. There are other characters, but they're mostly just people in suits that come in and out when the narrative wants them to; they're just faces that I forget about and struggle to remember when they pop back in.

Summed up, it's a very good movie! Come for the Nicolas Cage insanity and stay for the compelling mystery that slowly unwraps to a mostly satisfying conclusion!