Longlegs (2024)

Longlegs-(2024)
Longlegs (2024)

Longlegs could have been a better picture if not for hasty storytelling and too much praise for what set out to be a gripping thriller but ultimately becomes rather pedestrian. It can be described as a well-done representation of shameless paranoia, however, most critics seem to be ‘over-promising’ the film’s offerings at the moment.

FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), now with psychic powers, is moved to the case of a series of murders that seems to have lasted a long time. The so-called Longlegs (Nicolas Cage) seem to have a worrisome habit of convincing fathers to kill their whole families as suicidal in nature. The more Harker seeks answers to questions he is asking, the more she begins to become the target of Longlegs himself.

It feels like hand-held bloody killer serial killer films aren’t in vogue in Hollywood these days. The genre was rampant during the 90s with the likes of The Silence of the Lambs (1991) by Jonathan Demme and Seven (1995) by David Fincher leading the pack together with subpar works like Copycat (1995), American Psycho (2000), Natural Born Killers (1994), Kalifornia (1993) etc. If memory serves, Fincher’s Zodiac (2007) was perhaps the last time the world witnessed an epic portrayal of a serial killer. It was so good; there has been hardly anything about serial killers since.

It would also be the case to mention that the realism this subgenre portrays has caused a major drop in the number of people interested in it, which is exactly what one would want. It’s encouraging to say the least that there are fewer factual serial killers out there, much thanks to media and investigative journalism increasing on a wide international level making life more difficult for such criminals. Little wonder that piggybacking off that trend, Longlegs is also set in mid-1990s Oregon. It feels more authentic that way.

I was touched as well as inspired when in 2020, Osgoode Perkins’ fairy tale around Hansel and Gretel came out. In his latest film Longlegs, so much of this can be seen. It builds on the terrific freaking aesthetic and passive tone present in the earlier film. Almost like pastiche, the film takes the easily exploitable form and medium of horror and motioned fresh ideas and exciting characters. The story is where both of the films tend to falter. Longlegs possesses a potentially great story until a third-act twist forces Osgood’s script to confoundingly and literally deconstruct the plot, and explain clearly what the common man should be thinking.

Up to that point, the fun level is quite high. Maika Monroe is good in the role of Lee Harker, a character that bumps awkwardly in the beginning, but later on seems to be more understandable as conflicts arise. Always good to witness such an accomplished and perhaps underrated actor like Blair Underwood, who easily fleshes out a potentially stereotypical role into a more developed personality.

Nicolas Cage in this role has done the same thing but swirls the focus back on himself in a major way. Most people have seen the film, indeed, most of the effort in promoting it has gone to the actor playing the Longlegs killer, Nicolas Cage. His look and behavior have been well guarded, and I for one will not spoil them in this case. Even those who are familiar with that actor would know there are, in general, two Cage types, a repressed and a manic-directed one, and the one we have here certainly fits the latter description. Honestly, it is too over-the-top and under-directed for such stylistics.

It has been some time since a thriller came to the theaters with that much hype and in my opinion, this kind of universal applause is always dangerous. When Longlegs is bound to be mentioned along the lines of The Silence of the Lambs or Seven, it becomes an invitation for scrutiny, and that’s a scrutiny Longlegs cannot withstand. This is an intelligent and creative film about a serial killer, but a complete one it is not. But with careful premises in mind, it can definitely be said that it is worth the time of its target audience.

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