Connor Carey’s review published on Letterboxd:
Longlegs quickly became one of my most anticipated films of the year after it's brilliant marketing campaign, cryptic teasers, and fantastic early reviews. Thankfully this didn't disappoint one bit and is easily one of the best films of the year. I respect Osgood Perkins a lot as a director, but I haven't loved any of his films until this, and I think he kind of outdid himself here easily crafting his best film to date. He creates an absolutely haunting atmosphere that's so full of dread and eeriness to the point where you almost need to look away from the screen at times despite how restrained he mostly keeps things.
This isn't your typical horror film, yet the scares are still extremely well crafted and effective, and the glimmers of violence you do get are shocking and leave an impact. The sound design is unnerving, Andrés Arochi cinematography is among the best of the year, and there's certain images in this that won't be leaving my head any time soon. But on top of all that this still works as a gripping police procedural with an enthralling mystery and very intense sequences at its center that keeps you invested throughout despite some predictability. This was clearly influenced by a lot of serial killer thrillers from the 90’s and pays homage to a lot of them while still carving out its own path and creating an identity of its own.
Maika Monroe continues to rule the horror genre and delivers another exceptional performance. Her character might seem cold at first, but you quickly get attached to her and hope that she both uncovers this mystery and makes it to the finale alive. Really loved Blair Underwood in this and his chemistry with Monroe while Alicia Witt quietly steals every scene she’s in. However, it’s Nicolas Cage as Longlegs who leaves the biggest impact and walks away with the film. He isn’t physically in it as much as you’d expect (one of my few gripes) but you can feel his presence lingering in every scene and his appearance genuinely freaked and unsettled me out in ways I didn’t know were possible. He’s almost completely unrecognizable which is insane to say about someone as well known and famous as Cage and every time he’s onscreen I thought I was watching a real life serial killer. Genuinely freaky stuff and I loved how he didn’t play this character in the way you would initially expect.
The third act is definitely going to be divisive and honestly I don’t think I’ll know how to fully feel about it until I give it another watch, but I respect the hell out of Perkins for not giving this a traditional third act even if not all of it works and its clearly meant to be frustrating by design. Without giving anything away, there’s a reveal that I found extremely predictable from early on and it goes in a direction that I expect many will not vibe with or like given everything that preceded it. I wish I could go into more detail but it’s impossible too without spoilers, but I will say the final shot/ending and the way it cuts to black is pretty perfect. Longlegs is an excellent serial killer horror thriller that hopefully will give this subgenre a huge boost and see a lot more get made while still being extremely unique and original in its own right. This won’t be for everyone, but I appreciated the hell out of it.
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