‘Longlegs’ – A Match Made In Purgatory

Osgood “Oz” Perkins’s Longlegs continues 2024’s streak of dropping fine-quality horror releases, whether in direction, screenwriting, aesthetics, or themes. This horror crime-thriller has had comparisons to both Jonathan Demme and Ted Tally’s The Silence of the Lambs and David Fincher’s Zodiac, and rightfully so.

Longlegs is so deeply immersed in its lead protagonist Lee Harker’s (Maika Monroe; It Follows) commitment to resolving a decades-old investigation that viewers are bereft of the edge-of-your-seat feeling mystery stories often hold. The film taps into an element of horror that can only be met with a reaction of utter disgust and trepidation. Of course, that is a great thing to have in this genre of storytelling, making it one of the year’s top horror titles… and one of the year’s best films.

Perkins’s Screenwriting and Its Substance

“[O]ur prayers protect us from the Devil.” – Ruth Harker (Alicia Witt)

As a filmmaker, Perkins has a unique sense of direction and narration that is all the more exciting given his next foray into horror filmmaking: an adaptation of Stephen King’s short story, “The Monkey”, in seven months. The screenplay behind Longlegs involves a nonlinear narrative that works feasibly. The narrative immediately drops Harker in this macabre realm defined so well by time—the time of day and setting. Daytime and darkness do not exactly exhibit a balance like yin and yang. Rather, they showcase a backdrop for certain characters to make their presence. Perkins establishes a diachronic feel to the story, permitting Harker to unravel an otherwise inexplicable background for her case.

Her Federal Bureau of Investigation higher-up, Carter (Blair Underwood; Set it Off), introduces her to serial killer Longlegs’s (Nicolas Cage; Dream Scenario) cryptic language, much like Paul Dano’s The Riddler in Matt Reeves’s The Batman. However, Longlegs’s means of communicating and the ulterior motives that come with it are much more sinister than one can believe.

Harker’s connections to the serial killer are uprooted as the plot progresses, and as Perkins continues to pull from her backstory, the larger we realize how impactful the confines of this entire conspiracy can be. The environment is gothic at times, and the occult aspect is what lends ethos to Longlegs as a film, with anxiety, fear, and trauma as pathos to hold it all in place.

A Sadistic Cinematic Style

Director of Photography Andrés Arochi’s solid framing pairs brilliantly with production designer Danny Vermette’s set pieces of home interiors and exteriors. They play into the trope of “character’s back turned, open door/ open space” to perfection. Everyone on the production crew knows how to put on a show, and the imagery is an absolute treasure for genre fans. In one instance, Harker gets out of bed, and the third-person point-of-view is flipped upside down in a world that is already abnormal and unusual.

Editors Greg Ng and Graham Fortin’s cuts and transitions are astonishing as viewers witness Harker drift back and forth in time, where she often finds herself triggered by suppressed memories. One transition I love the most is of the protagonist standing in a coroner’s room and her appearance fading away to be substituted by a dark, leafless but erect tree. Sure, it is a signal of wintertime, but it is also a metaphor for self-dispossession, considering Harker must give herself up to her work, prioritizing it over any kind of personal or spiritual living.

Just because the film takes place in the late twentieth century doesn’t mean it needs to be nostalgic about it. Costume designer Mica Kayde’s outfit of a teenage girl at a hardware store and set decorator Trevor Johnston’s inclusion of telephones and interior decor provide signs of the times, and those are enough to be content with the bigger picture.

Hear No Evil

Supervising sound editor Eugenio Battaglia’s sound designs, along with sound effects editors Humberto Corte and Oscar Vargas’ placements of sound help add to the eerie tone that Longlegs requires. Noises like tapping, banging of a door, thunder booms, the grating ringing of a phone, and even Harker’s breathing keep the audience’s hearts beating as anticipation of whoever lurks nearby comes closer. Harker’s inhalation and exhalation might also contribute to her sanity as they could be a means of calming herself in intense situations.

Zigli’s music adds to the chilling air that the characters reside in, and I love the Hellish score as Harker lifts the covers over her family’s spare vehicle. More so, music supervisor Natasha Duprey blesses the radical soundtrack with the songs of its time, such as “Jewel” and “Get It On” by T. Rex.

Performances and Character Developments

“Is it scary being a lady FBI agent?” – Ruby Carter (Ava Kelders)

Monroe clocks in the most outstanding performances horror fans have seen from her since Chloe Okuno’s 2022 psychological thriller, Watcher. Lee Harker is a reserved FBI agent with the reasoning behind it. This is due to the trauma she has faced during an earlier encounter with Cage’s antagonist years prior. The character is described by her boss as “highly intuitive”, which works within the categories of horror and crime. Her determined attitude as an agent is akin to that of Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling. However, Monroe allows herself to be completely enveloped in the film’s psychological atmosphere, making it authentically believable.

In the role of Carter, Underwood plays a man of his profession as well as a man of his family. As a crime story set in the ’90s, viewers might also recognize the actor as the dreamy love interest in F. Gary Gray’s Set It Off. Carter is a parental or older sibling figure to Harker, and the juxtaposition of him with her actual mother, Ruth (Alicia Witt), is a matter of weighty influence on the protagonist.

Who Is Longlegs?

Nicolas Cage delivers what can easily be disputed as his career’s strongest performance. As “Longlegs”, this member of the Coppola family acts as he usually does, in his typical Cage fashion, topping previous baffling roles in Face/Off, Kick-Ass, and Mandy, to name a few. The quality of his acting is surely the topic of much discourse in more recent years, but just from his first appearance in the film, Longlegs cements Cage as one of the best performers of his time. The serial killer behaves similarly to Ted Levine’s Buffalo Bill. However, even comprehending Longlegs is more challenging than understanding, say, Heath Ledger’s Joker or Donald Glover’s Teddy Perkins. The actor is amusingly creepy, which is why I believe he has reached his peak.

With the film taking place in the state of Oregon, this posits Cage on the other end of the spectrum from his role in Michael Sarnoski’s 2021 drama, Pig. Whereas in Pig, Cage’s character prefers to exist outside of society and cause the least excitement, Longlegs is the full opposite. The titular antagonist plays a part in society and a secret one at that. There truly is no way to articulate any further how disturbing Cage is. Yet, he is one piece of the bigger puzzle for Harker to solve.

Final Thoughts on Longlegs

Oz Perkins’s Longlegs is a charm for the horror and crime thriller cross-genre. The film toys with the uncanny by offering familiar tropes and turning it on its head. It refuses to illustrate a whole narrative, and at the bare minimum, it urges viewers to come back to the start and see what sets things in motion. The storyteller brings out the best in his lead cast, and for that, there is a lot to admire and appreciate here.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars