Preston Marr’s review published on Letterboxd:
Longlegs will unsettle you throughout and is designed to linger on you even maybe some after the credits roll. There are some things here that i’m still up in the air about and torn on if i’m being honest as I sadly didn’t come out loving this like others. From a craft perspective I think this pretty much knocks it outta the park. The score is fantastic from composer Elvis Perkins who went underneath the pseudonym “Zilgi” here, as it really adds to this layer of dread throughout. The cinematography is also wonderful from Andres Arochi as I was impressed with how good this film looks honestly. The production design by Danny Vermette feels like an unsung hero here with how much it attributes to this films’ atmosphere and success. It beautifully captures this dark, dreary, & chilling small town set in Oregon in the ‘90s as it nails the tone and atmosphere here. I saw somebody say “huge Alan Wake vibes” and I couldn’t agree more in the best way. The makeup & hairstyling i’m fairly indifferent on if i’m being honest as I am pretty mixed on it. Osgood Perkins does mostly a terrific job directing here as he shot this film excellently. I loved how Oz Perkins just let the camera run & linger on some shots and moments here. This film has tension in spades while giving this ominous suspense throughout as I found certain segments in here eerie as hell. It features one of the best opening scenes of the year so far; one that I found brilliant and possibly up there for the highlight of the film in my opinion. It’s really tight and terrifying as it just nails the tone that you’re sorta looking for right off the bat. The film works best in the pocket of this fascinating investigation and pursuit in which when the letters start to appear is probably when the film was at its best for me. Nicolas Cage is extremely freaky and pretty horrifying as the titular serial-killer. Cage gives one of my favorite performances of the year so far and one that is worthy of the hype as I honestly think he could’ve been used a bit more here as each time he appears on screen you kinda start to hold your breath. Kiernan Shipka only gets one scene but crushes in that one scene and Alicia Witt is so good here as I truly hope she gets the praise she deserves for this role. Blair Underwood gives a fine performance here and Maika Monroe is great as “Lee Harker” as she is a good portion of why this film works. This all works well as a personification of pure evil as I did find this to be intriguing, creepy, & mostly great but I do have issues here with how some of it was written and executed. The story structure took a few missteps along the way and was just sorta clunky. The pacing eventually started to slip causing this 101 minute runtime to feel longer than it should. Lastly, where my problems lie foremost in this film is with its last act and some of the things that were revealed that just didn’t really work for me as it was a rather underwhelming conclusion which left a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth honestly. I’d say for the most part this film is worthy of the hype and lives up to it to a certain extent as I would definitely encourage you to see this in a theater with a crowd. I don’t know why this got swept up to be as “the scariest movie in ____ of time” and why that’s a trendy notion that has been getting marketed recently but yeah if that’s your expectation for any movie you go into I feel like you’re bound to be let down so yeah doesn’t make much sense! Quick sidebar: the composer of the score and director of this film are both brothers, Elvis Perkins & Osgood Perkins, whom their father is the late & great, Anthony Perkins, an absolute horror icon so yeah I just thought that was some neat family lineage there. There are some things that I am still mixed on and leaning meh towards but I would still give this film another watch one day for sure. I’m going to give Longlegs a 71% 🍅.
