Bruno🎄’s review published on Letterboxd:
“I know you’re not afraid of a little bit of dark, because you are the dark.”
The best horror film of the year thus far. This is my type of film, the one that makes your skin crawl and you just want to leave your seat because of how uncomfortable everything around feels and yet you can’t because you’re determined to watch greatness so you have to stay until the very end to witness such iconic moments. Fuck me… recency bias might be at play here but I don’t really care, this was a phenomenal watch and personally a top 10 film of the year. Thought-provoking type film, one that actually takes on the elements of investigation and builds on that quite well whilst keeping that horror aspect to it and as it nears the ending it turns that up a notch and goes nuts. Longlegs might be one of my favorite horror villains of recent memory and I’m genuinely terrified of the what I saw. Generational marketing right in front of us.
“You could’ve played nice with me. But you didn’t. And that is the reason for all of this.”
Hats off to Oz Perkins for writing and directing this terrifying film. The story is so tightly written I love it, the dialogue is clever, the story makes sense and towards the end it takes the route of Satan and I enjoyed how Perkins showcased those scenes especially the very last shot of the film. Cinematography is astonishing and presented to us by Andrés Arochi, some very wide shots and creative ones, I’m in love with how some of these were made and helps us get invested in our characters and story. The sound design is scary and loud and honestly it’s some of the best this year, when Longlegs is around it’s like everything is enhanced and you feel every word, every step, every move.
“Oh! There she is! The almost-birthday girl!”
Nicolas Cage has been turning his career around whilst also taking up every weird role he could think of and it’s been working out. Longlegs is one of my favorite performances of his of all time, everytime he’s on screen I was ready to lock in, I was disturbed, his portrayal of a serial killer is beyond phenomenal and one of the best performances and roles of the year, mesmerizing to say the least. Maika Monroe is a potential star on the rise, her portrayal of Agent Lee is great and her performance is nothing to shy away from, she’s steady, calm and intelligent. Love the way she solves the Longlegs case and how the conclusion of the story comes about. Blair Underwood is underrated and I think he delivers a great performance here.
The film is filled with so much symbolism and so much thought and meaning put into every shot and scene it’s ridiculous. It’s the most terrifying film of the year, the most uncomfortable and unsettling one so far and Longlegs is a perfect villain with a voice that’ll scar you for the next couple of days. I just want to rewatch this and take it in a couple more times. Neon you’ve got yourselves a massive hit and please give Oz everything he needs to craft his next project.
