Rolo Tony’s review published on Letterboxd:
This is a hotly anticipated film for many and I imagine those people would like to go into Longlegs unspoiled, so just know that this review will go over major plot details after the following paragraph.
Osgood Perkins hits his directorial stride in Longlegs. A fully formed, carefully executed, and passionately told crime-horror film that utilizes familiar story beats to transition into an entirely different kind of film. Maika Monroe steals the show, bringing the audience along for her ride. This is an experience as much as it is a rich horror film to dig into, and Monroe makes the first watch easy to be swept up in. Nicolas Cage has a crazy take on a crazy character and, of course, it pays off. Don't go into this one expecting the scariest movie of the year, but it will be one that stick in your brain for a good while after it ends. A sign that there's much more to dig into than what's presented. That's what you want from a solid horror movie. I take issue with some creative decisions that come in the third act, but by that point the film has already proven itself to be well worth the price of admission. Before you hear anything from anyone else, go to a screening with a packed crowd. It's a blast.
I want to start with Maika Monroe. 2014 was the year I took note of her. The one two punch of It Follows and The Guest is hard to ignore. She's doing similar things in both roles, but both films are going for such a specific tone. Monroe understood her strong suits early on and found a way to work in most genre film contexts. Its just a shame that a lot of her projects didn't pick up much steam over the next ten years. It's not even her fault, really. She's often starred in films alongside massive stars or has been a part of massive franchises, but too many times is she delegated to smaller supporting roles or leading movies that don't get the right time in the sun. If you want a solid Monroe movie that's worth watching, check out Watcher. Maika really understands her lane and can play really well into it. Its just a shame she hasn't had the chance to shine in another big release since her debut.
Working with Perkins, Monroe completely steps up to the task and makes Longlegs a thrill ride from front to back. There's something to be said about a performer who can sell the audience on the intensity of the scene without any supporting elements aiding them. I'm not saying this to imply that Monroe is left on her own, because she certainly isn't, but rather to highlight the importance of having a lead who sells the stakes this well. The early buzz around this film was that it was like a new Silence of the Lambs. If that's the case, Monroe is playing Lee Parker as if Clarice Starling had a few too many red bulls and had never went to therapy. Bringing that kind of energy to a crime-thriller really heightens how along for the ride an audience can be. This is a massive accomplishment on Monroe's end specifically. We get a million of these kinds of horror/crime mixes all the time. People like sensationalizing true crime. Its another thing to actually sell the pain and trauma our lead is meant to carry through physicality alone. I'm praising Monroe so much because she makes something that's very hard to do look very easy. That's the work of a genuine talent. With that new It Follows sequel on the horizon, I imagine Monroe won't be going anywhere anytime soon.
Speaking to Perkin's contribution to the film, he really builds upon the foundation set up by his previous films. Perkins has been relatively prolific despite only directing films within the past ten years. The fact he has two complete films already set after Longlegs is wild to consider, especially since Longlegs itself is so carefully considered. there's been a much ado about the marketing surrounding this film. By my observation, viral campaigns are at their most successful when the production design for a film is so compelling that extra stories or explanations can be made surrounding them. That's the route Neon went when marketing this film. The reason I bring all of this up is because there is so much specificity and focus here. Perkins fills the frame with context clues and and hints that will lead the viewer down theoretical rabbit-holes as we watch Monroe walk around dark empty houses. I imagine there will be so much to analyze about this film just from pausing on the scenes with newspaper clippings alone. The subliminal flashes, trippy hallucination sequences, and the aspect ratio tom foolery when switching back and forth in time makes every development feel natural and easy to follow while still being loaded with valuable information. Its satisfying both if you're looking for a rich crime story and if you're looking for something that will make your skin crawl.
Before writing this review, I listened to a few podcast interviews with Osgood Perkins promotion this film just to get an idea of where his head is at. Perkins constantly talks about wanting to feel like a Silence of the Lambs riff over something Blumhouse would produce today, which is quite ironic considering this film shares similar plot points as Scott Derrikson's Black Phone and Sinister. In no ways am I drawing this comparison to make a dig at any movie. I like Sinister and Black Phone, but Longlegs gets the generational trauma, goofy killer archetype, and voyeuristic mystery solving much better in half the runtime. It helps that Perkins allows for developments to evolve as our lead discovers key details in a more visual, less expository fashion.
Well, until the last 20 minutes. If I had any major flaw with this film, it would come from the final exposition dump at the end. Mainly because I kind of already figured out the twist before we got to it. Lee's mother was the secret accomplice to Longlegs all along, which explain's Lee's inexplicable drive to solve the case once she uncovers deeply repressed memories. Much of this movie plays out in a very logical fashion, only for Perkins to pump the brakes and really spell things out right at the end, it feels like a massive miscalculation. Maybe it will work for people who like having their food chewed for them a bit. Maybe if you're a lore slut or a fan of the ending of Psycho you'll dig it. For me, it completely grinds what was a mysterious, deeply visceral experience to a grinding halt, removing the mystique and mystery it had been building through-out.
This is a scripting issue, though. I imagine another pass or two could have ironed it out. Its not like the material wasn't sold regardless. Alicia Witt plays Lee Parker's mother in a stealthy role that proves to hold more menace than Cage's character ever possess. Witt's role, similar to Monroe's, is deceptively hard to pull off. She's playing the same role over decades, hiding the degree of her culpability not just in her involvement with the crimes, but also in her involvement with the story. Witt's character is only introduced in passing, but its through her constant reintroductions to the narrative that her inclusion in this narrative is impossible to ignore. Witt walks that fine line expertly. Once all of the cards are on the table, Witt sells me that she is someone to be deeply afraid of.
Nicolas Cage is back on his Vampire's Kiss bullshit, and its glorious to see. There's a motif surrounding lifelike dolls, and Cage as Longlegs has received an absurd amount of plastic surgery to look like the dolls he builds. He also happens to be a big fan of the band T-Rex. Also, he has bleach blonde hair and is pale white like Teddy Perkins. Needless to say, when we first get a good look at Longlegs, from profile screaming about mothers and fathers as he drives down a country road, I knew Cage was laughing his way to the bank. That's what this role always needed to be. Longlegs is sold as a Hannibal Lector type, only to continually be shown as a pathetic vamp master pushing satanism. He's not the threat, so much as the scary ideas he passes on to others. A daisy chain of evil linked together, unknowingly, by the Parker family.
Whenever I watch a film that plays around with supernatural elements, I like to employ The Shining Freezer test. To elaborate, in The Shining, the first time the audience can actually confirm the existence of ghosts as a literal entity in the film rather than just Jack's delusions is when Grady opens the freezer door. Sure, I've heard some people argue this could've been Danny putting on a voice, but this is The Shining we're talking about. There's no shortage of hair-brained theories. Anyways, What I'm trying to say is that that moment is a massive tell for the audience, even if its played in an underhanded fashion. Up to that point, the terror has solely come from Danny's visions and Jack's mania. From that point on, Wendy is seeing ghosts too. Bringing this back to Longlegs, I think there is still some reasonable doubt to be had in whether or not the devil is real or involved, but the film itself does make it clear that there is at least some level of supernatural shenanigans playing out here. The Shining Freezer scene for me would either be when Lee's mother shoots her doll, destroying the silver orb stored in the doll's head, or when Lee checks in on her boss' family and discovers her mother is carrying out another murder. In both instances, inexplicable occurrences happen that have real world impact that can be verified by others. This is important to highlight because, within the world of this film, the devil is real.
This is all to say that this film, while it presents itself as Silence of the Lambs, is really True Detective Season One. A narrative that toys around with mysticism and the surreal only to fully lean into it once the cat's out of the bag. I think this is a smart structure to apply to a more horror-minded project and I'm surprised we haven't seen more movies attempt this. It both heightens a familiar true crime structure we've seen a dozen times while allowing for more tangible emotional struggles.
While I was a little tired of the constant centre framing at times, I love the overall visual language to this film. There is just such an excellent mastery of negative space here. Paired with the aforementioned busy and detail oriented production design, the eye is welcome and open to wander about. Amazed to see that this is cinematographer Andres Arochi's first time in the role despite a solid career in shorts and music videos beforehand. There's this one scene in particular where we're following Monroe from behind and the rest of the room is being lit by her flashlight, but the focus stays on her silhouette rather than making the whole image clear. The focal length wasn't super shallow, but it was purposefully deep only to a point. An excellent subtle bit of filmmaking that makes it easier to stay within the headspace of our lead. This movie is filled with clever visual tricks like that that made myself and others gasp often.
Speaking of gasps, I really wasn't a fan of the 4-5 jump scares scattered around the runtime. It never worked, and while I felt the film was almost confident to a fault at this point, reliance on cheaply executed scares didn't pay off all that well for me. Longlegs thrives when its steeped in its generally fucked mood and atmosphere, and jolts like that only removed me from that sense of discovery.
I like the message of this film a lot. Trojan horsing a story of generational trauma left behind by your well meaning yet troubled parental figures is a powerful thing. Almost like Blue Velvet but the person warning our lead about the danger is also a participant in the cruelty. Its a sick implication to sit with. A more universal topic than it lets on, since I'm sure everyone has at least one event from their childhood where their parents did something wild to protect them from something they viewed as evil. Longlegs flips this idea on its head by making Lee's mother's own beliefs inherently evil on their own.
Paul Schrader has dumped on Maxxxine and this film in the past couple of weeks. Mainly because he sees Ti West's and Osgood Perkin's talents being wasted in horror. I completely reject the notion of horror being a less worthy genre, but I think using these two films as a litmus test is an interesting exercise. Maxxxine is very much so nostalgia baiting and deeply tied to what has come before without putting a completely fresh spin on things. To Schrader's credit, I do think West feels a bit out of his element. Pearl was a movie that played its credits over Mia Goth's unbreaking smile. Maxxxine never approaches that level of experimentation. Longlegs is the complete opposite of Schrader's point. Horror isn't a simple genre that can't reach deeper themes due to its conventions. In fact, a movie like Longlegs feels like a pushing the genre forward, one where many great filmmakers feel comfortable staying with. Hitchcock made horror movies right up until he died. The works of Larry Cohen, Frank Henenlotter, Larry Fessenden, and Stuart Gordon matter just as much to the fabric of American independent cinema as any Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino or Richard Linklater movie does. The only thing separating the emotional depths one can feel experiencing any kind of movie is the openness of the individual who decided to take the plunge. One mode of storytelling can never be definitively better than another and this has been proven through-out film history time and time again. What matters is your contribution to the conversation. While I feel as though Maxxxine does not bring anything new to the table, Longlegs does. Regardless, I love Ti West and Osgood Perkins. They seems to be doing just fine sticking to their guns, which is ultimately all you need to do if you want to be an honest filmmaker. This is all to say, Paul Schrader, what happened to saying I love you? Go back to your Master Gardener headspace if you want to advise young filmmakers you admire.
This movie is for the true crime obsessed freaks who like it when things get a little grizzly. A constant adrenaline rush that never really relents with its oppressive cruelty. I imagine this movie is going to play like gangbusters as it finds its audience. Its a singular experience that's well worth at least one go around. Certainly a highlight of the year and massive upgrade in comparison to Perkin's last outings. This film leaves me excited for whatever Perkins or Monroe have cooking up next. As for Cage, the Longlegs t-shirts are going to go so fucking hard.