Osgood Perkins’ ‘Longlegs’ Builds Satanic Atmosphere Around a Deranged Nicolas Cage

Alci Rengifo

Real horror can be found in the lingering feeling that a particular kind of movie leaves behind, when an image or mood can’t be shaken off. “Longlegs” works like that. The story isn’t necessarily pristine or the inspiration completely new, but what director Osgood Perkins knows very well is how to generate atmosphere. It’s not just in the look of the production. Osgood’s movie knows how to get under your skin without employing too many cheap jump scares. He takes the familiar tropes of a cop thriller and uses them to play with how creepy a face can get or the tension of dark corners. Nicolas Cage is almost the real plot, just in how he crafts a convincing idea of evil.

Maika Monroe is FBI agent Lee Harker, who scores an impressive arrest out in chilly, rural America. This convinces her superior, Agent Carter (Blair Underwood) to put her on the case of a series of brutal murders. Two dominating features are that the killings are usually of families, committed by a father or husband, and numerical patterns in the birthdays of their daughters. There are also cryptic letters with occult symbols sent to the authorities by a person known as Longlegs (Cage). As Lee looks deeper into the case, disturbing connections emerge to her own childhood. What is Longlegs connection to her memories? And what does any of it have to do with her religious and conservative mother, Ruth (Alicia Witt)? Each step closer to the truth threatens to expose a horrifying revelation.

There is a temptation to read much into the potential subtext of “Longlegs.” Osgood Perkins hails from quite the family tree. His father was actor Anthony Perkins, best known for “Psycho,” who lived in the closet for many years. His mother, Marisa Berenson, died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Like any artist, Perkins must be channeling something personal in the story elements concerning family secrets and generational trauma. But the film can also be properly judged as an artful thriller that goes against the grain. This chiller is pure arthouse, opening with credits and aspect ratios meant to evoke classic ‘70s horror. Visually, cinematographer Andres Arochi is nodding at “The Omen” or “The Last House on the Left.” The atmospherics are similar to “The Witch,” where an enveloping gloom slowly pulls the audience into the story. The music by Zilgi is a dreamlike cascade of eerie sound. 

Much of “Longlegs” functions precisely like a nightmare, almost with dream logic. The murder cases are the running plot, but much of the film functions almost as eerie snippets. Because Longlegs himself is shown in the very first scene, we’re aware of his presence and the rest is Lee working her way towards him. The film flows through Lee cracking his cryptic codes. Horrifying memories of a murder in a home flash across the screen. A family’s bloated, maggot-riddled corpses are found in a house. Lee connects numbers and dates on a chart, finding patterns we don’t really have to pay attention to. What matters is what Longlegs eventually represents. Though comparisons have been made to “The Silence of the Lambs,” a worthier one is Chris Carter’s “Millennium,” where serial murder is a metaphor for a metaphysical or supernatural idea of evil.

Nicolas Cage is the lighting rod of the film, delivering his wildest performance since “Mandy.” He turns Longlegs into a pale, long-haired freak who begins sentences with a hiss, before building up to ear-splitting screams. He prowls the local community clearly like a predator, but with no sense of coming from or going anywhere. What is known is that he’s a Satanist, though an FBI agent warns Lee that’s not a crime in the United States. What Lee needs to uncover is how Longlegs orchestrates gruesome murders from afar. The screenplay has a few lapses in logic when it comes to explaining these mysteries. 

Perkins’ use of atmosphere is so rich that we can forgive some of the story’s blind spots. This is the kind of movie where we can feel the leaves rustle or the dampness of a cloudy afternoon. Individual scenes have classic and eerie force, as when strange objects are found beneath floors. By the third act, we have a clearer idea of what’s going on and its truly dark implications. Perkins stages violence so well, without resorting to over-the-top gore and preferring how bloodshed can be quick and unsettling. How Longlegs plans the murders feels somewhat too contrived, like an excuse to throw in one more sinister object, but the payoff is quite good and tragic. 

So much horror repeats the same tropes or sells out to easy gore that “Longlegs” feels fresh by returning to the basics of fever dream weirdness. Some of our most awful memories can feel like a haze, because our minds would rather not dwell too much on the details. Perkins feels more obsessed with capturing that mood and the plot is merely an excuse. Nicolas Cage gives it twisted, perverse life with his contorted, truly unforgettable performance. Instead of simply delivering escapism, “Longlegs” taps into that unique effect of following you outside of the theater. You’re left wondering what you just saw, the way a bad dream haunts the mind long after waking up.

“Longlegs” releases July 12 in theaters nationwide.