REVIEW: ‘Longlegs’ Is Deeply Unsettling

Longlegs is a surprisingly astute take on both detective stories and devilish horror. Directed and written by Osgood Perkins, the film looks to the past as a 90s period piece but goes even further by capturing the foundation of both genres it lives in and executing it wonderfully.

A certified scream queen, Maika Monroe stars as Agent Lee Harker. Somber and driven by an eerie intuition, Lee has to help find a serial killer who kills families in their homes, leaves behind notes that need to be deciphered, and yet leaves no sign of ever being in the home. As she assembles the pieces, she uncovers the series of occult clues that tie everything together.

This isn’t going to be a long review. Like many detective stories, this one is better left to be seen; like many horror stories, it’s best left to be experienced. Perkins’ ability to keep his audience under an oppressive weight of suspense is unmatched.

Monroe’s cold and detached Lee is a window into the story that grows clearer as the story develops. Answers yield even more unstable ground as she descends deeper into the pit that Longlegs has crafted. Lee’s stoic demeanor gives way to uncertainty and deep vulnerabilities that Perkins exploits as he casts her into the darkness.

Nicolas Cage absolutely steals the show, as he usually does. After the opening sequence, despite knowing who Longlegs is, he creeps over the entire film. He’s suffocating, and he’s not even in the film most of the time. Cage’s physical transformation is gruesome all its own. You see glimpses of the eponymous serial killer and the way that each subsequent moment with him makes his shadow grow larger. His presence is stifling.

Like in his other films such as Gretel and Hansel and The Blackcoat’s Daughter, Perkins understands exactly how to push his audience to fill in blanks—and how we fill them becomes an mounting dread that tightens slowly. With an eye for architecture, doorways and windows capture the characters that live in their center.

While the camera pushes in close, the large backgrounds make the characters feel infinitely small. The environment also lends to the chilling tension. Backgrounds are ominously slightly out of focus, and despite Perkins’ restraint when using jump scares, you can’t help but feel like something is going to come out. It’s in the space where the audience asks, “Will something jump out?” that makes you clutch your chest, trying to keep the air from escaping your lungs.

Perkins’ steadied hand allows simplicity to lay a path as you descend into Hell. Each small moment builds on the next as jolting violence relieves the tension by making you jump in your seat. Longlegs isn’t loud or brash, and that makes its moments of erratic chaos that bubble up from characters all the more unnerving.

Osgood Perkins has shown his ability to craft absolutely horrifying landscapes and situations for his characters. That continues with Longlegs. Yes, Cage and Monroe are large reasons for the film’s stirring success. But it’s Perkins’ tightening of the noose before knocking you off the stool that makes the narrative’s execution thrilling.

An FBI thriller that replicates moments of genre history, it pivots into hellish occult that makes it something special. Longlegs is a deeply unsettling experience from beginning to end. It’s sharp yet subtle in the best ways.

Longlegs is playing in theaters nationwide.