Published 7/19/2024
Rating : 8/10 Recommended
SPOILER-FREE!
Longlegs, written and directed by Osgood Perkins, starring Maika Monroe (It Follows), Nicolas Cage (The Rock, Con Air, Pig), and Blair Underwood (Set It Off, Deep Impact) is a cerebral mindf**** that gets under your skin and stays there until the credit roll.
Osgood Perkins must be a fan of Se7en (1995) and Silence of the Lambs (1991) because many a page were lifted from these seminal films. That's not to say the film copied these works in the literal sense, but rather the inspiration can be keenly felt in both sound design, protagonist introduction, villainy, photography, pacing and shock value. All crucial elements for a solid horror yarn. Credit given to composer Zilgi for creating a hauntingly beautiful soundspace.
The film follows a brilliant but green detective assignment to a long-running case that involves a string of murder–suicides involving families throughout the state of Oregon. The murder scenes are bereft any any forced entry, meaning someone was allowed in the house or was already there on a consistent basis. Osgood Perkins does a well enough job establishing the scenes and Agent Harker's (Maika Monroe) day to day routine. We can clearly gather her life is not normal.
Maika Monroe was a good pick for Longlegs due to her performance in It Follows, another film where she's not asked to do too much to move the narrative. I'm not sure what social ailment Maika was projecting and how it related to the plot twist. At times it was perplexing but if the director was going for a different angle than it was missed entirely. I believe the character could have been drawn up like Jodie Foster's Clarice Sterling: a smart but green FBI agent on the hunt for a notorious killer. That is more relatable then a clairvoyant agent we cannot identify with in the real world.
While the set up and follow-through on the murder investigations is interesting let's not beat around the bush: we're here for Nicholas Cage! We want to see the brand of crazy only Nicholas Cage can deliver. And does he ever.
Osgood Perkins deftly hides most of Cage's performance as the serial killer, and the glimpses we see in the first two acts are nothing short of extraordinary. Everything about the Nick Cage we know is different. He fully transformed himself into a malevolent entity. There is one scene in particular that stands out, it's towards the end and features very little script, but what is conveyed in the shot is astounding. Watch for it.
Expectations for Longlegs were extremely high and Rotten Tomatoes attendee reviews are tamping it down. One can label this film as a psychological thriller versus a horror film. One can say Maika Monroe's performance is too jilted and the narrative is too ambiguous. All valid claims. I believe too much relied on the ending's plot twist, and could have been served better with a narrative shift halfway in. The premise had a lot going for it, but only a fraction is realized. Without delving too much into the supernatural Osgood Perkins opens a can of "holy sh**!"that could have driven the film into much darker and interesting places. Nonetheless, Longlegs is a worthy film to spend your theater dollars on I look forward to whatever he does next.
Comments