A horror movie with retro stylings that, while flawed, stands above its peers.

FBI agent Lee Harker joins a cold case following a string of murdered families. The families seemingly killed themselves without provocation or cause. Can Harker discover the truth behind the murders?

Longlegs is one of those small horror movies that gets a lot of media attention, more than it normally would. The principle draw being Nicolas Cage playing the monstrous titular creature. But the aggressive marketing and social media coverage has been a double-edged sword…

Directed by Oz Perkins (the lowly rated Gretel & Hansel) and starring Maika Monroe (It Follows) Longlegs proves itself to be captivating enough in the horror genre.

Firstly, the film is a police procedural, following agents Harker (Monroe) and Carter (Blair Underwood) as Harker is brought onto a cold case. The case involves families brutally murdered in their own homes but with no intruder present. Harker seems to possess some latent psychic ability or cognition that allows her to sense a killer’s intent, making her ideal in the case.
The film’s opening acts are akin to an episode of The X-Files. FBI agents trying to find and deduce clues of the killer’s identity, a possibly arcane or phenomenon involved. As well as one of the agents perhaps being linked to the killer?

The story’s setting being in the 90s also helps invoke The X-Files comparison. It is a moody, quiet movie for the most part. There is an artistry and care in the film-making; a scene transition will dissolve a character into a tree that’s remarkably shaped like them. For example.
For a horror movie it is low on the post-production as well. In keeping with the police procedural style, everything is grounded in reality. The film has a grainy warmth to it, something seen more and more recently.

The acting from Maika Monroe is excellent and surprisingly muted. There is a good sense of vulnerability mixed with professionalism throughout, as well as an air of the uncanny.

All of this is welcome. But these good graces do come with blemishes.
Outside of the film, the media coverage of this film was heavily pushing the monster. Or, the “monster”, as it happens. Audiences should not expect a literal monster. The marketing teased Nicolas Cage’s transformation, which is one thing, but the film also teases it. An opening scene where his face is cut off at the top of the screen, only to end on a smear frame as he ducks into view. However, when he is revealed… it isn’t all that interesting.

This is the rub of the film. Nicolas Cage is both actor and producer on Longlegs, so there must be a lot of commitment here. The film is earnest in tone… most of the time. But Cage brings with him an undeniable… “Nic Cage energy”. There is no doubt that his performance is suitably unhinged, but because it is Cage, it comes off as goofy. It can disengage the audience because it is just “Nicolas Cage doing his thing.”
For younger audiences who don’t know who he is or his history, this might not be such a problem.

One wonders though, if Longlegs featuring Nicolas Cage has arrived too soon. Perhaps an older Nic Cage would have been even more unsettling?

As a result of this, the film’s tone becomes a little muddled. The third act doesn’t go into the deep end (films like Hereditary) which is a blessing. When the film ends, audiences are left with a rather different take than when it began.
Also, unnecessary audio jump scares… It isn’t as frustrating as a James Wan movie, but when “Part Two” appearing on the screen is a big jump scare, you lose points.

Overall, Longlegs was a good horror movie. There’s something retro in its style that older audiences will appreciate, and for younger audiences it could be a dip into more subtle horror movies.