Longlegs Movie Review by Lindsey Goddard

Longlegs is a brand new horror film, written and directed by Osgood Perkins. It was released in the US on July 12th to immediate critical acclaim, grossing over one hundred million dollars worldwide. I must admit… Though I enjoyed Longlegs, I was expecting much more and was ultimately left with the feeling that yet another big-budget film has been overhyped because…. money.

A preemptive defense: I ordinarily have no problem with Nicholas Cage. I grew up watching Raising Arizona, then bridged into the heavier stuff like Leaving Las Vegas, and in recent years, I even bought Renfield for $20 and milked a view out of every single dollar. That being said, the presence of Nic Cage in this film nearly ruined it for me. I wanted the character of Longlegs to be ambiguous, cryptic, hard to wrap my head around. It’s as if they were going for a mysterious, foreboding figure (the name Longlegs itself reeks of Creepypasta vibes), but then chose an actor who’s a shoo-in for ticket sales instead. An actor whose voice I could identify after one syllable with my eyes closed. My senses could only process the character of Longlegs as Nic Cage in terrible makeup, trying desperately to top the eccentricity of his last unhinged character (and who could EVER keep up with who the last character was at this point??). Cage’s portrayal distracted me from feeling the sense of dread I felt while watching similar movies, like Seven (1995).

Now, before I move on to what I enjoyed about the film (this is by no means a negative review), I want to add that I also don’t agree with the casting decision for Detective Lee Harker who, unfortunately, gets the most screen time of all. It’s crazy that I’m even writing these words because I loved actress Maika Monroe in the movie It Follows, which was a total success, in my eyes. But for her portrayal of the semi-psychic Agent Harker in Longlegs, Monroe tried painfully hard to keep a troubled expression plastered on her face, which came across as a souped-up version of Jeana Ortega as Wednesday Addams, to me. The purposeful gloom was too thick. Even for me.

But hang in there! There’s good feedback, too!

Where this movie succeeded was the direction. It felt like a French horror film: dark, depraved, and bleak, with bloody scenes that actually affect the viewer. You won’t find buckets of blood in Longlegs, but when Perkins chooses to utilize gore, the result is so effective, you will feel it in your gut.

And the pace of this film was absolute perfection! If a film drags on too long, my mind wanders. If it moves too quickly, I have trouble keeping up. The story of Longlegs unfolds at a rewarding pace, allowing viewers to unravel the mystery alongside the protagonist. As Lee Harker is pulled further into a case she suspects has been a part of her life since childhood, we become equally immersed and strung along, until BAM… the one hour and forty minute run time is over. Just like that.

Pace? Perfect. Imagery? Disturbingly brilliant. Cast? Some were great; some were forced. And now I know you’ll be asking… Was it scary? Which is hard to say. I’m very hard to spook. But Longlegs certainly aims to frighten!

The storyline was okay, I guess, though I grow tired of the cliché use of Satanism in horror fiction. I don’t think it spoils anything to say that because, honestly, does it surprise you? Satanism is a familiar backdrop in the horror genre at this point. An easy scapegoat. Definitely not a fresh concept. Didn’t shock me a bit.

But hey… that’s only the tip of the iceberg with the plot of Longlegs. There’s so much more to the story, which, of course, I won’t spoil here! You’ll have to watch Longlegs and let me know what you think. For now, I’m going to give this film 7 out of 10 stars. Even though I had my complaints, I’ve already watched it again.

My advice is that you should watch it, too! Longlegs is now available to rent and buy. I watched it on Google TV.

REVIEWER BIO:

Lindsey Goddard lives in Missouri but wishes she didn’t. Her fiction has appeared in Gamut Magazine, Carnage House E-zine, and has been performed on popular horror podcasts such as CreepyPod and Chilling Tales for Dark Nights. She is the author of four short story collections, a poetry book, and a novel, Ashes of Another Life. Learn more about her work at: LindseyBethGoddard.com