Osgood Perkins’s Longlegs is without doubt one of the most atmospheric and unsettling horror movies in current reminiscence.
PLOT: A newly minted FBI Agent (Maika Monroe) winds up turning into embroiled within the pursuit of a serial killer named Longlegs, with ties to the occult.
REVIEW: Seeing Longlegs at a ten am press screening was fairly wild. While you’re a movie critic, you get used to seeing these sorts of ultra-dark, nihilistic horror films at a deceptively sunny time of the day. Heck, I’ll always remember watching Ari Aster’s Hereditary on the ungodly hour of 830 am on the Sundance Movie Competition at some point, and, after being badly shaken by the phobia onscreen, strolling out the door to a sunny pageant filled with younger of us in ski jackets fortunately going about their enterprise.
Longlegs was the same expertise. Osgood Perkins, the son of the enduring Psycho star Anthony Perkins, has crafted one of many darkest, most nihilistic horror films I’ve seen in years. Because the credit rolled, a fellow critic turned to me and requested me, “dude, did we just see a classic?” Whereas it’s too early to say, I nonetheless discovered myself deeply shaken by this nightmarish thriller.
Nevertheless, your enjoyment (if that’s even the correct phrase) of Longlegs is determined by occurring in comparatively contemporary, so to keep away from spoilers, I’m going to stay to solely the barebones parts of the plot, as beforehand revealed by Neon. The film is split up into chapters, and someplace round chapter three, the film takes a tough left and turns into one thing fairly completely different than what the studio is promoting – to my eventual delight.
As it’s, Longlegs is a slow-burn, with it being character and atmosphere-driven. One might classify it as a part of the brand new wave of elevated horror, with Perkins, who’s already made a reputation for himself in indie horror together with his earlier movies, together with I Am the Fairly Factor That Lives within the Home, taking an enormous leap ahead. This may put him within the higher echelon of style administrators, with the movie proficient in the identical method one thing like Se7en or Silence of the Lambs was, though Longlegs finally has much less in widespread with both movie than you would possibly suppose.
Maika Monroe has one other nice half as an uneasy FBI agent named Lee Harker, who often finds herself virtually supernaturally attuned to the crime scenes she investigates, together with her boss, one other agent performed by Blair Underwood, calling her “half psychic.” Monroe’s been the darling of indie horror for years due to The Visitor, and It Follows, together with her delivering a largely unseen however wonderful efficiency in final 12 months’s God is a Bullet. She performs Harker as quiet and unassuming (and probably on the spectrum), together with her chilly and picked up on the varied horrific crime scenes she investigates, making you suppose there’s extra to her than meets the attention.
Underwood ably helps her as a heat household man agent who tries to get her to open up a bit. On the identical time, Alicia Witt delivers a knockout efficiency as Harker’s devoutly non secular mom. Certainly, Longlegs ought to reestablish Witt as an A-level character actor, together with her position finally proving to be one of many film’s most unforgettable parts.
As for Nicolas Cage, Neon has been cautious to not give away his look or voice, however suffice it to say that is the actor as you’ve by no means seen him. How can I finest describe him? Think about a satanic, hideous seventies glam rocker. Cage appears to relish enjoying such an evil character, however to dig extra into his efficiency could be a disservice to viewers, as, once more, it’s worthwhile to go in contemporary.
One other aspect of the film that must be singled out is the unimaginable manufacturing design and artwork course, which make this some of the atmospheric horror movies in current reminiscence. The sparse rating by Zilgi, about whom I might discover little or no info on-line, is appropriately dread-inducing.
To notice, so far as legitimately scares go, Longlegs, by design, is a gradual burn. Fairly than knock you over the pinnacle with moments designed to make you leap, the film slowly builds a way of dread, which turns into extremely potent because it involves its horrifying conclusion. As soon as the credit rolled, I discovered myself surprisingly shaken up by what I’d simply seen, and it’s a movie I’ll must chew on within the coming weeks. Anticipate this one to make main waves amongst horror followers when it opens on July twelfth. Will it’s thought of a brand new traditional? Time will inform, however for me, this was a fairly dazzling piece of labor.
