Oy, interesting movie to see on a Sunday that happens to be on the 14th of a month. Probably the opposite of heading to Sunday church. The dread you have heading into the theater for Longlegs might be slightly superior to the dread you feel while actually watching it, but it’s still quite a visceral experience no matter how quiet and methodical some of its thrills are.

While this had the makings of a Se7en or Zodiac type of procedural that analyzes humanity at its most evil, the film opts for more of a supernatural/black magic route that I thought may not have been necessary, although it ends up being explained and justified pretty smartly. This kind of tries to reinvent the wheel when it didn’t need to. The satanic aspects are palatable, but I don’t think serial killer investigative thrillers have been saturated enough for a movie like this to have to deviate from the mean that much. Not to get even more pea-brained, but I think this could have benefitted from a few more traditional scares, because the few jumps are quite chilling.

In terms of technique, this is a treat if you’re someone like me who worships the ‘slow zoom into a character with a thousand-yard stare + fast-cutting surreal flashbacks’ style. I found myself questioning the inherent fear that darkness brings as I sat and watched this - is pitch black truly scary? Or is it the small beam of light that pierces through the pitch black that brings fear? I loved the sparse use of lighting here. Being able to see just a little bit of your surroundings is scarier than pure blindness. It also plays around with aspect ratios well, especially in its hauntingly rockin’ opening credits sequence.

I also love the awkward savant energy Maika Monroe is radiating with here. There’s nothing that woman loves more than reading a fucked up script and we are all better off because of that. Lastly, choosing a mid-90s setting just because the aesthetic would be way fuckin cooler is the type of choice filmmaking is built upon. I feel like it was done for no other reason other than to have the cool dinosaur tech of blocky computers, and that’s so valid. Both the time and location of the film are not overtly stated either; you have to pay attention to newspaper clippings and the big fat portrait of Slick Willy hanging on the office wall to figure out where and when this takes place.

I’m not sure if this will scare all that much in the moment nor leave you with the anxiety in the days to follow that some viewers have touted, but it displays more than enough skill to match the aura it built for itself before you even entered the building. Longlegs plays a balancing act of crime procedure and horror that might prevent it from being a classic in either genre, but its audacious mixture of those elements make it a whole lot better than most films releasing nowadays, and its a great example of the power of tone and marketing.

SIDE NOTE: I’m not sure if it was some sort of invasive guerilla marketing campaign or just some kid who went to see the screening of Princess Mononoke in the next theater’s party balloon that snuck through our door (hey Regal, close the fucking doors when the movie starts), but seeing that thing float through the theater was very, very eerie, especially considering this story’s focus on children’s birthdays.