Director: Osgood Perkins 
Starring: Maika Monroe, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt, Nicolas Cage
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 101 mins

Longlegs is a horror thriller written and directed by Osgood Perkins, his fourth film but by far his highest profile effort. The film follows Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), an FBI agent assigned to investigate a decades-spanning case of a series of brutal murder-suicides. In each incident, the father has murdered his wife and children before taking his own life, but a letter with cryptic Satanic coding is left at each crime scene signed ‘Longlegs’. There’s no forensic evidence to suggest any outside parties have been present. 

The film’s had quite the marketing campaign with rapturous reviews prior to its release, with many praising Nicolas Cage’s performance as the titular character. With sky-high expectations, it’s always easy for films to disappoint and be a victim of its own marketing success. 

Although Longlegs isn’t as outright scary as some have made it out to be and is more of a crime thriller, this is still a barnstorming original effort from Perkins. He maintains a real sense of dread and tension throughout and the film is relentlessly bleak with some a terrific central performance by Maika Monroe. 

The film’s beautifully shot by Andrés Arochi, favouring close-ups of characters but keeping the background in shot – an early scene where Harker reads a letter following a home invasion is brilliantly shot as we’re constantly peering at the edge of the kitchen door frame. I also loved the muted, grey colour palette and the dreary, dilapidated homes many of the characters live in that portray the Oregonian setting is not particularly affluent. It’s also complemented by an excellent, rather minimalist score by Zilgi (who is actually the director’s’ brother, Elvis Perkins) but there are equally many scenes of silence which really contributes to the dread. 

While I really appreciated the film’s mix of being a procedural crime thriller with Satanic worship and occult mystery and while the film ends neatly and in a satisfying way, it would have been even more effective if Perkins’ hadn’t explained some details.  

Maika Monroe is brilliant, and if she didn’t already after The Guest and It Follows, cements herself as a modern horror scream queen. Harker is a fascinating character, completely deadpan and somewhat distant and struggles to fit in with her peers. There’s a brilliant early scene where she’s invited into a young girl’s bedroom and when her mother walks in on them, Harker’s sat on the bed looking away from the girl. Her unpredictability contributes to the dread and when we meet Alicia Witt as her mother, you can see an uncanny resemblance between them. Blair Underwood is also excellent as her superior, Agent Carter, bringing a humanity as he tries to make sense of Harker’s findings. 

And then there’s Nicolas Cage and despite warming to his performance more on a second watch, is a mixed bag. He’s genuinely creepy at times as the elusive serial killer but equally very Cage-like in his intensity, which detracts from the seriousness of the film and is the complete opposite of Monroe’s performance. I wonder whether it would have been a stronger choice to have picked an unknown actor for the role. However, on the plus side Cage is in the film for just the right amount of time and doesn’t overly outstay his welcome. 

Longlegs is ultimately an excellent horror thriller and will surely propel Perkins’ career. I can’t wait to watch his prior filmography and the film’s an excellent showcase of Maika Monroe’s ability and I hope she gets more meaningful work from her success here. While perhaps a little too neatly crafted in its narrative, Longlegs is a fiersomely original horror directed with real skill and flair.