Longlegs Review: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage's Film Is A Bizarre Juggle Of Horror & Absurdity

Directors: Osgood Perkins

Cast: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Alicia Witt, Erin Boyes, Blair Underwood, Lisa Chandler, Dakota Doulby, Vanessa Walsh

Where to watch: In theatres

Rating: **

This film is a veritable smorgasbord of horror clichés and occult extravagance, where every frame screams, "Look at me, I’m artsy!" Osgood Perkins, known for his previous soirees into the bizarre with "The Blackcoat’s Daughter" and "I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House," returns with a film so self-assured in its eeriness that it almost feels like it's daring you to look away. But, alas, you won’t—largely because you’ll be too busy trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

Picture this: a psychic FBI agent, a haunted doll, and a serial killer who pals around with Satan. Yes, it’s a genre buffet with all the fixings, but Perkins doesn't just toss these elements into the pot haphazardly. Each ingredient is sautéed in atmospheric tension until it’s dripping with foreboding flavour.

Maika Monroe essays Lee Harker with the kind of grim determination that makes you wonder if she keeps a scrapbook of the worst days of her life. She anchors the film, making Lee more than just a typical horror protagonist. Her character, an FBI rookie with a disturbing knack for connecting with the supernatural, is recruited by the seasoned Agent Carter (Blair Underwood) to hunt down the elusive and decidedly vampiric Longlegs (Nicolas Cage), whose occult shenanigans have stumped authorities.

On the other hand, Nicolas Cage’s unhinged performance is forgettable because it’s so outlandishly bizarre, and hammy, and has very little screen time. He embodies Longlegs with unhinged enthusiasm that makes you question his relationship with reality. With stringy white hair and an affinity for shrieking “Hail Satan!”, his character is a fever dream come to life—a fever dream that, apparently, decided to moonlight as a craftsman of life-size effigies that turn families into homicidal maniacs.

The plot; jumps from era to era, paired with its baffling narrative choices, is akin to a rollercoaster designed by a sadist. Perkins strips away procedural elements in favour of eccentricities: an asylum chief who seems to think he’s in a Blaxploitation film, and a hardware store girl who quips at Longlegs like she’s in a dark comedy. These moments of absurdity are Perkins’ attempt to destabilize audience expectations, but they mostly highlight the film’s disjointed nature.

Perkins’ direction is about atmosphere—long shots, eerie silences, and a sound design that ensures even a creaky floorboard sends shivers down your spine. The cinematography by Andres Arochi is a masterclass in making the mundane look menacing, capturing vast, empty spaces that isolate characters and amplify the sense of dread. But all this technical prowess is in service of a plot that is as flimsy as the dolls Longlegs creates.

Overall, while the narrative struggles to be cohesive, the film is less a horror film and more a compilation of creepy vignettes loosely strung together by a plot that seems almost incidental. You will leave the auditorium scratching your heads, for Longlegs fail to worm into your subconsciousness.