100/100

"I stood upon the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rise upout of the sea with seven heads and ten horns and on his horns, he wore ten crowns. On each head was a blasphemous name."

Horror might have peaked here, at least for me. To start this review, I want to say that I think some of the claims about how scary this movie is, are blown out of proportion. Keep in mind this is coming from someone who stopped finding horror movies scary at the old age of 11. HOWEVER, this movie is the scariest movie I've seen in years. I didn't feel that "dread" everyone talks about, but there are a couple of scenes that made me feel emotions I've never felt before in a movie. To which I give this movie endless praise for that alone. With that out of the way, let's talk about the actual movie.

Where to start? There's so much to cover. So much to talk about. Let's start with the cinematography. Probably one of the most well-shot horror films I've ever seen. A genius use of lighting and set-design. The visuals create such a strong atmosphere it's insane. Osgood Perkins showed his strength for an unsettling atmosphere in The Blackcoat's Daughter And he perfected it in this. The movie just feels sad. And entirely wrong, in the best ways possible. But he also knows when to give you a shot that doesn't try to do too much, as to not take away from the story moment. The soundtrack also does wonders for the atmosphere, and I haven't seen enough people talk to it. A certain track in it reminds me heavily of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and that's a good thing. An aspect I really loved about the soundtrack was the amount of times there was none. Tons of scenes have nothing playing, leaving the viewer to bathe the atmosphere. And because of this, moments where the soundtrack plays feels extra special. I know this just sounds like every movie ever made, but how Longlegs splits up the amount of scenes with and without the soundtrack feels unique.

The mystery itself is incredibly engaging, and leaves you with the perfect amount of clues to predict the reveals, without being obvious. Of course, I'm an idiot, so I didn't pick up on the clues, so I feel like a second viewing is really needed to appreciate that aspect of the film. The story isn't necessarily the deepest, and I think The Blackcoat's Daughter has more complex themes, but they certainly go hand-in-hand with their themes. The story stays very unpredictable for 90% of its runtime, especially thanks to an incredible opening scene, but you can kinda tell where it's going by the end of it.

The acting is just so good. Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe's performances are Oscar worthy, for completely different reasons. Nicolas Cage is undoubtedly gonna get more praise, because he stands out a lot more, and is the scariest part of the movie, but the talent Maika Monroe exudes in this film can not be understated (she's SO pretty too!) She's great at highlighting her character's declining mental state as the film goes on, mainly with such amazing physical acting. She also does a great job at showing that her character is autistic. I very much appreciated the fact that the film never mentions her autism but makes it obvious by SHOWING it. Not a lot of films have the confidence in their script to do that.

The characters are an interesting topic, mainly because they don't ever really develop or change, yet I wouldn't even dare to call them poorly written. The characters are the story, and vice-versa. Lee Harker isn't necessarily a masterpiece of a character, and neither is Longlegs, but because the story revolves around them, and they revolve around the story, they're great. I might have phrased that poorly, but I think that if you've seen the movie, you'll get what I mean (I hope!)

I feel that it's fair to devote an entire paragraph to the film's titular character, Longlegs. What a horrifying villain. Almost every scene with him is pure nightmare fuel. Being serious, sometimes I struggle to sleep because I can't get him out of my mind. Visually, he is so unsettling. Incredible makeup/prosthetic work. Eventually, his scariness from his visual appearance wears off, but Nicolas Cage's performance keeps him perfectly creepy. His presence lingers throughout the film for the entire runtime, and I found myself tense with the thought that he could show up anytime. Despite not being very physical throughout the movie, the way every shot with him is framed gives this feeling that he could physically overpower any character with ease. Genuinely one of the scariest horror characters I've ever seen.

Like every review I make, there's more I can say, but my strongest feelings are out of the way. I really can't say enough how much I love this movie. It's a delightfully macabre film that balances the realistic serial killer mystery with Satanism with perfection. There's a high chance it ends up in my top 4 favorites, but I want to let it sit in my mind for a bit before I do that. Glad to see it's doing well in the box office, even though judging from a lot of reviews, the mainstream horror audience isn't made/ready for a movie like this. Who cares though! I love it! Everything I've wanted in a horror movie is bundled up in Longlegs and it feels me with such happiness that I get to say that.