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Last night I had the time to watch Longlegs (2024) a new psychological horror movie written and directed by Osgood Perkins, this movie has been generating a lot of hype since its sneak peeks in early this year with some people claiming it to be one of the most horrifying films ever although for me the 2024 Horror Queen is still The First Omen (2024?). Despite the fact that I don’t believe that Longlegs is as terrifying as it was described to be as the pure evil itself or as a film that can cause panic attacks, it is still a very good and rather disturbing film that left a lasting impression on me. The plot is based on FBI agent Lee Harker who tries to solve a series of murders of families that have some connection with a certain character called Longlegs, the story gets more complicated as Harker delves further into the case and discovers that there is more to the events that she is investigating than what she could ever imagine. Thanks to the mysterious atmosphere, unique visuals and strong performances of Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage, Longlegs presents a chilling take on the topics of family, memory, and violence’s recurrence. It isn’t a masterpiece but it is a brave and striking film of the psychological horror sub genre that will be hard to forget, in my opinion in the top five horror movie of the year.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23468450/
- Platform: AppleTV+
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I was amazed to see how Perkins manipulates the audience with such techniques as slow zoom, off centered framing and creepy moving shots which make Harker look like he is being dragged towards the target or evil. The sounds been use during the movie are particularly awesome taking in consideration the background noises and the short music clips been used to create and intensify the tension on the scene. Although there are several gory scenes that are more than enough to make the skin crawl, the movie’s horror comes from the general feeling that something is just not right and that evil is present in every scene.
Nicolas Cage plays the role of the enigmatic Longlegs and the latter looks quite eerie in this guise. Cage looks an entirely different person, with his white face, scraggly hair, and a voice that sounds like it comes from a haunted character. Although he is not in the film much, Cage does not waste any of the time he has on screen by being incredibly ominous. There is a lot of tension between Monroe and Cage’s characters.
The secondary characters are also good with Alicia Witt doing a good job as Harker’s religious mother Ruth and Blair Underwood as Ruth’s FBI superior. The audience does not only get a feeling that even secondary characters are developed, which enriches the movie’s universe.
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There is also a certain focus on the theme of faith and religion, with Harker’s mother being a religious woman while Longlegs is connected with the devil, it is possible to note that the movie shows that blind faith can be used as a way to cover up or even justify some awful actions.
I liked that the movie does not explain everything, there are some questions that remain unanswered which is good, gives you more to think about the movie once its over, this can be quite annoying to some people but this is entertaining so not everyone will have the same perception, I'm sure there is even a part of the audience who did not like the movie at all.
The visuals and the setting of the movie were praised a lot as they really captured the atmosphere and the time period of the story, this were just some of the positives that I could found within a couple of small reviews on sites like IMDB or RTT.
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There were also some complaints that the movie does not go all the way in terms of its more fantastic or paranormal aspects, certain viewers noted that the final scenes which included a lot of display spoiled the dreamlike feeling that was established throughout the movie.
Cage seemed to have given his all to the role and many critics applauded him for that, as he develop a rather odd and creepy character with some of the best moments of the film are when he shares screen space with Maika Monroe and the chemistry between them is filled with tension and suspense, another aspect that I enjoy about the movie how they seem to work very well, something you can only start to feel once you have a seen a lot of bad and good movies. Even though Longlegs won’t be remembered as Cage’s best acting it has to be one of the most convincing and disturbing performances, in a good way.
Overall, I was able to consider Longlegs as a good psychological horror movie and left a good impression, a movie that I could watch more than once, despite the fact that it did not attain the level of horror that was expected from some of the pre release promotions but the truth is that they hide Cage character all the time and this was intentional from the director to keep the suspense and the hype. This is a film made by Osgood Perkins that focuses more on the atmosphere than the jumps and therefore delivers a film that is more psychological than overtly horror. The story at times can be quite confusing but the great acting, impressive visuals and the themes that the movie deals with make it very interesting.
This is not a film for everyone because at times it is gory and wont scare will only make you uncomfortable, the slow and rather ambiguous plot may annoy those who are seeking for action and clear plot, but for those who are ready to dive into the nightmare that is the film will find a lot to think about and discuss after the movie.
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