Horror fans have been eating good for the past few years, as several studios and companies such as Shudder, A24 and Neon have elevated the genre with their unconventional fare. Longlegs is the latest from Neon and it’s been hyped up due to its creepy and mysterious marketing. I’m happy to say that it lives up to all the hype, and I’d even call Longlegs perhaps as close to this generation’s equivalent of Silence Of The Lambs or 1995’s Se7en.

Some Fava Beans And A Nice Chianti

Longlegs is written and directed by Osgood Perkins (fun fact: he’s actually the son of Anthony Perkins, the star of Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal Psycho). That horror blood pedigree definitely flows in his veins because Longlegs is one of the best horror films in recent memory. What is Longlegs about, you ask? This is certainly one of those movies where the best experience comes from going in knowing almost nothing about it beforehand.

Longlegs is not your generic or conventional horror movie that relies on cheap jump scares, but on the other hand, it’s also not entirely like an abstract arthouse horror film. It combines both to make a movie akin to something like Silence Of The Lambs meets Hereditary. The core premise and all you need to know about Longlegs is that horror queen Maika Monroe (she previously starred in 2014’s It Follows) plays an FBI agent named Lee Harker and she’s hunting down a serial killer played by Nicholas Cage. Now perhaps you’ll understand why I’m comparing it to Silence Of The Lambs so much.

That being said, the best thing about Longlegs is that (as per the headline of this review) it’s dripping in dread and atmospheric suspense from start to finish. It almost never lets up, which is why it’s comparable to recent horror movies like Hereditary or When Evil Lurks. There’s always a sense of creeping uneasiness in every scene, which is further lifted by the incredible performances of Maika Monroe and Nicholas Cage. It’s especially true for Maika Monroe, who wears a haunting and uncomfortable expression throughout the entire movie. Meanwhile, Nicholas Cage is used as sparingly as Sir Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter was in Silence Of The Lambs, but each time he appears on-screen, he gives a disturbing performance channelling a Joker-esque serial killer. Though, since this is Nicholas Cage we’re talking about, his performance can also seem to be unintentionally funny at times (I chuckled a few times).

As for the kills and goriness of the movie, it’s really not that shockingly gory. Though there are many moments of violence, they’re nowhere as graphic or gratuitous as When Evil Lurks, Hereditary, Terrifier, etc. Most of the fear and dread come from the sinister atmosphere, though there are still several violent moments that remind you, yes, this is still a horror movie and not just a crime procedural. Sometimes, it’s what you imagine happening in the darkest recesses of your mind that will stick with you longer than anything that actually happens onscreen.

Perhaps the only biggest flaw of Longlegs is that while it’s extremely compelling and immersive for the first two-thirds of the movie, keeping you at the edge of your seat, it ultimately stumbles and falters somewhat in the third act and climax. It’s not bad enough to negatively impact Longlegs as a whole, but the movie loses some of that momentum in the third act and ends a bit underwhelmingly as it struggles to make the payoff of everything feel satisfying enough after all that massive buildup.

It also has to do with the fact that Longlegs is more of a ‘supernatural’ horror movie compared to the more grounded and gritty Silence Of The Lambs, so it’s more prone to a sort of ‘deus ex machina’ situation that seemingly comes out of nowhere. That could either be a good or a bad thing, depending on your preferences.

Pure Evil

If you’re a fan of horror, do yourselves a favour and catch Longlegs in cinemas right now. It’s rare that Malaysian cinemas would screen an “elevated horror” movie like this and it’s even rarer that a movie like this would screen WITHOUT ANY CUTS. Again, Longlegs very much feels like it is this generation’s Silence Of The Lambs or Se7en.

FINAL SCORE: 80/100

Longlegs is now showing in Malaysian cinemas.