Longlegs (2023 film)

Category: Supernatural crime drama/horror

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I'm glad to see Nicolas Cage get some good press for the first time in a long time. He seemed to have gone through a period where he became known for taking part in low-budget/low-quality productions, for giving performances that reflected said production values, and also for issues in his personal life that drove him to become a caricature of himself. As someone who thought Con Air was the coolest movie for an extended period of time in the 1990s, it's good to see Cage be recognised for a role that generates some positive press about his name once again.

And who would have thought that a satanic panic horror film would be the thing that gets his career back on track? 

Let me run through the plot before I go into my thoughts on the matter:

Longlegs revolves around Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), a junior FBI agent who displays precocious clairvoyancy and a knack for cryptology, is brought in to help solve a series of murders in which numerous families have been found dead after the father of the family violently kills the rest of the family, then himself, and the only clue is a cryptic letter signed by Longlegs found at each scene.

With persistence amidst a growing relationship with her superior, Agent Carter (Blair Underwood) and his family, Harker puts in the hours and deciphers the clues all the while having a strained relationship with her mother, Ruth (Alicia Witt). A surreptitious delivery of a package to Harker's house gives her the key to decode the previous Longlegs letters, but with a warning that her mother will die if she reveals more. Harker is then called straight away to a murder scene where things start to make more sense.

It is eventually discovered that there is only one survivor of Longlegs - Carrie-Anne, who was away when her father killed the rest of her family. Complicating matters is that Carrie-Anne is in a catatonic state in a mental hospital, but in a sudden outburst of lucidity mid-interview, she reveals that she is still under the control of Longlegs and would do anything he wanted. Harker and Carter visit the scene of a previous murder and find a doll that resembles the young Carrie-Anne. A forensic investigation reveals the doll to be expertly crafted, but when the metal ball inside the doll's head is scanned, it emits a sound that seems to bother Harker.

While visiting her mother at home, Harker comes across a photo of her and the man they believe to be Longlegs (Nicholas Cage) which leads to his arrest. At his interrogation, he reveals that he works for "the man downstairs" and speaks in cryptic clues, but also insinuates that he has known Harker since she was a child and suggests she talk to her mother about what she knows. After this, Longlegs ends his own life by smashing his head into the FBI table repeatedly (something actually impossible to do in reality, but the scene does make for some gruesome visuals).

Out of leads, Harker and her colleague head out to her mother's place where said colleague is killed by the mother weilding a shotgun, and then a porcelain doll in very much the same style as the Carrie-Anne doll is shot by the mother which releases a black, mystical substance causing Harker to faint. It is then revealed that Harker is the young girl from the opening of the movie and that in order to protect her daughter, Ruth cut a deal with Longlegs to be his accomplice and allowed him to use their basement for his dirty work.

The final scene of the movie shows Harker waking up in the basement of her house and answering the phone call of a creepy figure telling her she is late. She arrives at the birthday party of Ruby, Agent Carter's daughter, to find Ruth already there with a creepy doll and Agent Carter himself under an evil influence. Carter kills his wife, but is shot by Harker when he lunges towards Ruby. Harker then shoots her mother who also tries to kill Ruby, after which Harker tells Ruby that they need to get going.

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This ain't no date movie, and I’d barely call that a happy ending.

First thing to say - Maika Monroe does a stellar job here! Her portrayal of someone with the intelligence and the persistence to piece everything together, but also struggling with feelings and issues and hidden trauma, her portrayal makes her really relatable. I actually think her performance carries the film - if I were deciding Oscars, I'd call this Oscar-worthy!

And Nic Cage's casting as a serial killer is definitely interesting choice! While he is only on-screen for a mere handful of minutes, when he is, you will definitely be creeped out by him. Me personally, I got some Rob Zombie/Charles Manson/Marilyn Manson vibes as a result of the makeup, costume and his characterisations.

The rest of the cast play their roles to perfection as well, including the scenery and location - the overcast Canadian conditions (where the film was shot) really added to the depressing pall that hangs over this movie.

As a horror-themed drama (since there are barely any on-screen deaths, so I'm disinclined to call it horror), it was great. The second half in particular is when to movie becomes an absolute mind-fuck - don't watch this if you're recovering from a hangover!

However, if I were to criticise one thing specifically about this movie, it's that if you're going to appeal to the supernatural to be the key that connects the plot points, you have to make sure your ducks are in a row and everything makes sense - otherwise, you're essentially solving one mystery by appealing to an even bigger mystery. This isn't to say that Longlegs was plagued by bad writing - absolutely not, because what was presented as it was presented was excellent and I say this is a credit to the writing team - the way that the action was presented on-screen was so good that you didn’t care to question stuff as you were vieweing! It's just that thinking back afterwards, a fair few things didn't quite make sense and left lots of questions to be answered that kinda spoil the memory of the experience:

How does Longlegs know the birthday of the girls in each family that ends up dead? Is there a database he has access to?

What is the point of killing the families? Further to this, if it's possible to survive being killed by agreeing to be an accomplice, why are there no other accomplices? Wouldn't it make more sense to attain accomplices, since dead people can't do anything for you?

Why is the killing spree seemingly contained only to Oregon? Just seems weird that a man who is in touch with the forces of darkness has a specific geographic region to work in, like Satan has assigned Kobble the Oregon franchise. Maybe sunny Los Angeles was already taken.

Why does this movie use Bible references, rather than references from The Satanic Bible or some other non-Christian text, if the happenings are indeed attributed to Satanic influence? It does seem like a cheap ploy to frame Satanism as being an off-shoot of Christianity, rather than being its own fully-fledged religion which by the mid-90s, it was. However, given that this movie seems to play on the Satanic Panic, I will let this one slide. Having said that, if I were a Satanist, I'd be pretty unhappy with the portrayal of my beliefs. Though it is interesting how evil is allowed to manifest in a family because they trusted someone who appeared to represent goodness and decency. 

How do neither the dolls nor the mother leave absolutely no forensic evidence?

Did no families ever have security cameras or systems installed?

Is there any significance to the name "Dale Kobble"?

And why Longlegs? Nic Cage's character isn't particularly tall, and long-leg spiders are actually quite harmless - the opposite of what serial killers are noted for.

Questions aside, all in all, great film and worth a watch - maybe Nic Cage has found a new calling!

STAR RATING: 4.25/5