Matthias Bruneel’s review published on Letterboxd:
I can understand why people are so excited about Osgood Perkins as a director but after "Gretel and Hansel" and now Longlegs, I just think that he's not my thing. I can admire the sense of style that he brings to his films but I'm just not as over the moon about his stuff as other people seem to be.
Longlegs is being sold as a horror film about an rookie FBI agent going after a serial killer called Longlegs but for me, this plays more like a (psychological) thriller with horror elements, much like "The Silence of the Lambs" for example. Perkins does manage to create a sense of dread and danger here but apart from some well executed jump scares and a few really cool and disturbing visuals, I was never really scared. More like being on edge, which I guess is an accomplishment in and of itself.
Perkins does have a strong directorial stamp as far as I can tell from the two films I've seen and that's where my main issue lies. His filmmaking is really slow, on pûrpose clearly, with lingering shots and a story that takes its time to unravel. I can appreciate slow films at times, but here it just moves a bit too slow for the story it is telling, at least in my opinion. That doesn't mean that I think it's bad, but it's not the masterpiece that some claim it to be.
Also, special shoutout to Nicolas Cage who gives a truly unhinged and disturbing performance here. It's another good outing from him and these last couple of years has seen him do interesting stuff. Maika Monroe also is carving up a nice cv of these interesting, more indie style, films and I find her to be a good actress who takes interesting roles, so thumbs up for her.
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