Longlegs (2024) Let's get right to question you want answered.
Is it worth the hype lavished on it?
Does it really justify reviewers and bloggers falling over themselves calling it 'the scariest movie you'll ever see...blah, blah, blah....."
Breaking BQ news: A big NO to the hype.
True, it's moody and gloomy as hell. You can practically cut the overall feeling of dread with a knife. And more than few characters end up sliced and diced with actual sharp objects.
Director Oz Perkins (son of late "Psycho" actor Anthony) has already carved out something of a reputation as a purveyor of High Art Horror. ("Gretel & Hansel", "I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In the House").
Yes, he's got an unerring eye for visuals and individual scenes that slowly but surely make your skin crawl......
But in this film, all of Perkins' considerable talent can't overcome two major flaws.....
His climactic ending manages to come across as both obvious, unsurprising and yet fuzzy and confusing in explaining its own mythology.
Even worse, a typical bonkers performance by Nicolas Cage replaces the arthouse tropes with an off-the-rails vibe of a carnival freakshow. While Perkins' direction creates a suffocating atmosphere of impending doom, Cage's take-no-prisoners Booga-Booga Halloween party performance does more to enhance his own legendary weird filmography than do this film any good.
Through most of its running time, the film wisely rations out glimpses of Cage as 'Longlegs', the titular, serial killer monster. From what little we see, the actor's barely recognizable. His mournful, hound dog face stays buried under mountains of rubberized makeup and he cavorts like a nightmare version of the much mocked falsetto singer Tiny Tim.
Longlegs M.O. for wiping out entire families involves somehow mesmerizing one family member to slaughter everybody else in the house, before committing suicide themselves.
How he accomplishes that is what's tormenting an FBI chief (Blair Underwood) and his high strung deer-in-the-headlights Special Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe, the go-to horror ingenue).
Harker's already traumatized by her apparent psychic connection to Longlegs, as well her unsettled relationship with her decidedly odd mother (Alicia Witt). There's backstories to reveal here, which the film finally lays out in methodical, inevitable fashion.
Which brings us to the getta-load-of-me Cage giving us the full unadulterated Satan worshipping Longlegs. For those unsure if that's really him under all the facial sludge, you can at last identify and detect the actor in that that familiar, mad glint of his eyes.
Even with its connect-every-dot ending, 'Longlegs' is content to stay maddingly obtuse about how Cage untethers victims from their sanity...... we can only surmise they're entranced and seduced by Longlegs' boss, whom he refers to as 'the man downstairs'. (Satan? Donald Trump?)
Do not fall for reviews describing this film as some kind of wild, thrill-a-minute, scare-you-to-death, funhouse ride. The only jump scares come the sudden, loud eruption of music chords.
For the first two thirds, you'll view a well crafted example of Elevated Arthouse horror. The finale? It's a Nic Cage Krazytown jamboree. 2 stars (**).
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