Longlegs (2024) | Less is More-Legs

When I first heard of Longlegs, I, like many others, thought it was something about spiders due to the common household arachnid known as a “daddy longlegs.” That’s not what it’s about at all, however. It’s actually a mystery thriller about a serial killer who is responsible for the deaths of entire families and who continues to evade capture by the FBI. It got a lot of positive buzz when it was released in theaters, so I tried my best to temper expectations by the time it came to streaming for my home viewing.

Pros

Some genuinely creepy moments with good camera work to elevate the horror and performances
An engaging mystery, even if certain elements get in the way
Good makeup effects make some horrific moments effective, as well as transform the face of Longlegs
Decent acting from most of the cast
Subtle and not-so-subtle imagery adds to the various scenes in which an evil influence is present
Direction and cinematography keep the scenes engaging

Cons

Sometimes difficult to take seriously, due to a particular actor
More suspension of disbelief is required than expected for this type of mystery movie
Twists are somewhat predictable
Exposition dump at the end to describe everything
Trying really hard to be like other, better thrillers

Plot & Thoughts

Longlegs opens with an eerie scene in a secluded part of snowy, rural America, in which a suspicious individual has parked his car in front of a house. After approaching a young girl outside the house, the scene ends with his maniacal laughter and a time jump. FBI Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) is on a mission with another FBI agent, searching for a criminal in a small neighborhood. She seemingly exhibits a type of psychic ability, as she’s able to pinpoint the home in which the killer is hiding, because as soon as the door opens, her cohort is killed. Upon detaining the killer and returning to her local HQ, she’s given the task of finding and detaining the serial killer dubbed “Longlegs” (Nicholas Cage). There are various coincidences with all of his victims, and though all of the deaths are murder-suicides of family members, there is always a letter signed by Longlegs to suggest his involvement, but nothing more. As Harker digs deeper into the case, she learns more personal connections to the serial killer, and strange things begin occurring with her and her mother (Alicia Witt), who appears to be suffering from a form of dementia.

There are plenty of things to like about Longlegs. It’s a compelling mystery for the majority of the story as Harker uncovers more clues, or the audience is allowed to see things she doesn’t. You don’t quite know who Longlegs is or how he’s accomplishing his kills up to the end, and even when it’s over, it’s not entirely clear—this leads to a point I have against the movie, but we’ll get to that. It’s a psychological horror film that relies on tension in the scene and the unknown. Due to the acting and direction, it manages to keep things interesting. The way the view is framed in many scenes, accompanied by silence, makes it so your eye is often drawn to the background or to potential moving shadows. Maika Monroe delivers a performance that showcases emotions of fear and anguish without being overt or overly dramatic. I cannot quite give the same praise to her co-star, however.

Nicholas Cage has had a long and wild career in acting, reaching the highest heights and lowest lows that most actors could never achieve. Yet, for all the absurdity he is known to bring to a role, he’s rarely ever played a psychotic killer. One of the praises I heard about Longlegs before I saw it was that Cage, despite being nearly unrecognizable, gave a performance that was “incredible” and “elevated the film.” While the makeup effects are fantastic at transforming his face into something that barely resembles him, as well as something menacing, I cannot quite agree with the acting.

When Cage was quiet or staring into the camera, he was great. It allowed the makeup to shine and his character to exude a sinister aura. When he was allowed to go down the bombastic performance path that Cage often does, I couldn’t stop laughing. Don’t get me wrong. If you’ve been reading my reviews on this site, you would likely know that I love Nicholas Cage, especially when he’s going over the top. It just doesn’t work for me when he’s supposed to be a serial killer who is a genius, three steps ahead of the FBI, and malevolently manipulating everything like a puppet master. When Cage is Caster Troy in Faceoff, grabbing butts and bugging out like a nutjob, it’s fun and ridiculous in a way that works in a wild Jon Woo movie. Longlegs, however, is trying to be a serious mystery thriller akin to The Silence of the Lambs or Se7en, so his performance messes with the tone for me. That obviously wasn’t the case with other viewers, so it might just be that I’ve seen too many Nicholas Cage movies to take him seriously.

Cage performance aside, the other issues I have with the film lie with how the thriller ultimately wraps up. I won’t spoil anything, but I probably won’t need to for most people who are paying attention. There are a few twists that happen, and they’re all pretty predictable after you consider how the mystery starts and the lack of red herrings to lead you in a different direction. Towards the end, everything is explained in an exposition dump that I didn’t like. Even though it contextualizes all the killings, there could have been a better way of explaining things to the audience through Harker’s discoveries, without a narrative dialogue dump.

I also have a slight issue with the supernatural side of the story. Harker’s psychic abilities and the way Longlegs kills his victims make an otherwise grounded film feel more fantastical than it should. When watching a mystery thriller about a deranged killer, we, as the audience, want to figure it out along with the characters. However, our sleuthing is dependent on a reality without the supernatural, so it automatically pulled me out of the mystery as something I just needed to accept. Had the movie been written without the supernatural elements involved, I think the mystery would have been far more compelling and interesting, rather than just giving the killer some mysterious cheat codes to reality. I still found it engaging and interesting; I just think it could have been better.

TL;DR

Longlegs has plenty of positives going for it. Solid pacing, direction, makeup effects, and acting create an interesting and engaging mystery thriller. It is just held back from being great in my eyes by a few negatives. As much as I love Nicolas Cage, I think he would have been better if he weren’t allowed to be as wild as he can get. I also think that if we had removed some of the magical elements of the story, everything would have ended up more grounded and interesting. Nonetheless, it’s still worth a watch.

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