Longlegs (2024) Movie Review

Longlegs (2024) Movie Review
Over the past several years now, we have seen the rise of independent film studios tackling horror films across multiple different genres. Most famously, Blumhouse and A24 have seen great success with their various films and television series, receiving both critical and commercial success over many years. However, of late, a new contender has entered the ring with ‘Neon’. Neon has produced some of the best horror films in recent years, with their impressive library continuing to grow. In 2024 alone, we’ve seen the critically acclaimed ‘Immaculate’ starring Sydney Sweeney, the nerve-racking and fright-filled ‘Cuckoo’ starring Hunter Schaffer, Dan Stevens and Jessica Henwick and the box office smash and critical darling ‘Longlegs’, directed by Ozgood Perkins (The Blackcoats Daughter, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House and Gretel and Hansel) and starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas cage. The film was a massive success, grossing over $104 million worldwide, and nearly $75 million in the USA alone. The film also proved to be a massive critical success, with an impressive critics score of 85% and an audience score of 60%. The film went viral after an impressive marketing campaign, hyping up just how scary it was.
Longlegs follows a young woman named Clara (played by Maika Monroe), who returns to her rural hometown after years away, as an FBI agent, inspecting murders that may be associated to the mysterious serial killer known as Longlegs (played by Nicolas Cage). Reality begins to unravel and its soon revealed that not all as it seems, as there may just be something darker and more sinister afoot… With all the hype you could possibly want from an indie horror and its impressive cast, the film quickly became one of my most-anticipated films of the year and I’m happy to report it did not disappoint!
‘Longlegs’ benefits from its slow, methodical pacing, that really helps drive the suspense and intrigue of its central plot. It is very much’ A Silence of The Lambs-esq’ story, with Clara feeling like a Clarice Starling stand-in, but with some dark and twisted, supernatural undertones that like many, I wasn’t really expecting. The story sets itself up as a pretty standard cop procedural, with each of the beats being hit, but as the film progresses, everything feels slightly off, with a third act filled with revelations and oddity’s that many won’t see coming.
The cast are fantastic, with Maika Monroe, continuing to impress, moving back and forth between many different genres, but giving powerful performances in each film she does. She’s stark, damaged and haunted and she plays this spectacularly. The performance everyone is talking about here though is Nicolas Cage. Cage continues his hot streak of indie darlings, with yet another great turn. Director Osgood Perkins leans into cage’s, well, Cageisms, with Nicolas Cage going full cage in many moments over the duration of the film. Thankfully, he is used sparingly, adding to the creepiness and overall mystique of Longlegs as a character. Perkins knows exactly when to show him and when not to, adding to the atmosphere, ambiance and overall tone of the film.
I will keep this review brief, as I really don’t want to spoil any of the twists and turns throughout, but overall Longlegs was an absolute treat. As a fan of many true-crime thrillers and 90s crime dramas, Longlegs thankfully follows closely in tone, what many of these films accomplished back in the day. Its legitimately frightening at times, with the whole film held together by Perkins sure-hand behind the camera, and the talent of Maika Monroe and Nicolas cage in front of it. It won’t be for everyone, but Longlegs is up there as one of the scarier horror films of 2024 thus far. Be sure t pick-up your copy on DVD, Blu-Ray or 4K Ultra HD, you won’t want to miss out on this one! For everything else pop culture, make Sanity your one stop shop, show their tens of thousands of titles on DVD, Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD, not to mention their wide range of music, board games, video games, statues, and collectibles and so much more!
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Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here