Funereal Plots
Horror Cinema reviews
Matthew
M. Bartlett
Longlegs
Writer/Director: Oz Perkins
On paper, Longlegs is a fairly standard story: an FBI agent hunts an elusive serial killer who leaves cryptic clues. But this is Oz Perkins, who’s behind the eccentric movies I Am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House (glacially paced, nearly ruined by idiosyncratic narration) and The Blackcoat’s Daughter (brilliant, if somewhat confusing).
In Longlegs, we meet FBI agent Lee Harker, seemingly timid, possibly psychic, the latter a plot point that the movie mystifyingly seems to drop. Harker is investigating a supposedly Manson-like killer who somehow persuades a father to murder his family and, without being present, leaves a cryptogram for the police to find. Moreover, each family has a daughter born on the 14th of the month, the killings taking place shortly before or after that daughter’s birthday. This all, of course, has an occult meaning.
Oh, there are strange dolls with orbs in their heads, too.
The performances are first rate. Malika Monroe, who in real life exudes movie star glamour, is gaunt, tired-looking, mousy. Lee’s mother Ruth is played by Alicia Witt as spacey, strange, and secretive. But Nicolas Cage’s performance anchors the movie…maybe anchors isn’t the right word. It does the opposite—casts it adrift from the “thriller” category and sends it straight into deranged, disorienting horror. Even for Cage, this is a weird one. I have no adjectives for it. I almost wish he had appeared uncredited. I don’t think I would have recognized him. I think many wouldn’t have.
Despite the familiar beats that understandably draw comparisons to Silence of the Lambs, Longlegs strides straight into the dark realms of the Satanic and the supernatural. The assured direction, atmospheric cinematography, and sound design (some super-weird choices there) work in concert with Cage (who also produces) to provide a deeply disturbing movie experience. It’s hypnotic. It’s odd. It is, at times, as utterly terrifying as modern horror gets.
