“Longlegs” Offers Fresh Retro Horror

Longlegs (Oz Perkins, 2024) 4 out of 5 stars

Arriving in time to deliver a cool thrill during the hot summer, director Oz Perkins’ Longlegs is one of the best horror films to incorporate crime and drama into its principal story since The Silence of the Lambs. The movie is chilling at times, surreal at others, and while it sometimes weighs itself down by overemphasizing a Satanic undertone, overall it offers a fascinating horror story empowered by crisp cinematography, gripping editing, and stellar performances. There’s Maika Monroe (It Follows), Blair Underwood (Origin), and, in one of the most unsettling performances that we may ever see from him, Nicolas Cage (Arcadian).

The most enjoyable strength of Longlegs is definitely its use of composition to create tension, particularly as a creative substitute for overly graphic imagery. Both through detailed framing and film editing, it feels like the viewer is immersed in the story, captured and trapped in the space with the characters. Camera movements create a powerful sense of perspective, and the pace makes for intense dynamics and unbearable tension.

Narratively, Longlegs remains, for a long while, focused on the crime/drama angle of its horror and terror, centered on Agent Lee Harker (Monroe) as a disturbed but determined criminal investigator with a tinge of psychic ability to detect danger. The story takes its time getting to finally meet Cage’s unsettling “Longlegs” character, and by that time, the viewer is already invested in this showdown, the way one may have been invested in Clarice Starling finally meeting Hannibal Lecter. Admittedly, though, the way Perkins (Gretel & Hansel) uses Satanic themes and elements overshadows a lot of what is accomplished in the film’s latter half, and does not seem necessary in building the story.

Overall, Longlegs in many ways reinvents the horror genre through its visual and aural style, bringing back a retro ‘70s and ‘80s feel to many of its sequences, giving priority to its cinematic conventions and handling its principle cast in a way that is crisp and concise. With the exception of oversaturating the story with several ideas towards the finale, Perkins has accomplished a fine work of horror. Longlegs is bitingly cold, abstract, and the epitome of creepy storytelling.

Adam Vaughn

Adam Vaughn is a graduate of the Film & Moving Image program at Stevenson University, with a focus in Cinematography and Production. He also has a minor in Theater and Media Performance. Adam works as a freelance photographer and videographer, focusing his craft on creating compelling photographic and cinematic imagery. Adam is excited to join the Film Festival Today team and explore the world of cinema and visual arts.