Longlegs Review: A Heart-Pounding Nightmare!

Oz Perkins has flown under the radar as one of our generation’s most distinctive voices in horror. Names like Ari Aster, and Mike Flannigan are widely discussed in the realm of horror despite their shorter filmographies. With only three films under his belt, including smaller horror gems like The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Gretel & Hansel, Oz Perkins introduces us to his fourth film Longlegs starring Maika Monroe and Nicholas Cage.

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With the marketing for the film going full force from skin crawling teasers to audio of Monroe’s real heartbeat filming her first scene with Nicholas Cage as Longlegs, the film’s anticipation and hype was a phenomenon in itself. Having finally witnessed Perkin’s latest accomplishment, Longlegs has brought him to the forefront with a horror entry that hits like a bludgeon to the heart and lingers like a dark memory.

Going into Longlegs with the least amount of information will only amplify its effect. From the first shot, Perkins’ combination of a 4:3 aspect ratio shot on film with a light and snowy backdrop brightens the scene to feel heavenly with a darkness to its cinematography that creates an unsettling feeling immediately. This feeling never lets up from beginning to end in a masterful manner that is extremely rare. Although aspects of the film are recognizable to our own world, it feels as if we have been shipped off to a familiar yet different dimension where nightmares are inescapable and there is no protection in sight.

As a result of Perkins’ ability to transport his audience into what feels like a desolate hole in the ground, Longlegs plays by its own set of rules. No longer can we equate the film’s happenings to the standards of our own world. Instead, what happens between the opening title until the closing credits is like a fable locked between the front and back cover of its pages. Nobody gets out until the book is closed, a terrifying and claustrophobic feeling Longlegs achieves with immense power. The film ventures into a couple of directions touching on subgenres seen in the horror catalog.

What differentiates Longleg’s execution of said conventions are the way they are weaved into the story with ease and through Oz Perkins’ ability to create a slow descent into its own dark abyss. Elements that have been written and seen before are put through a grinder and sprinkled throughout to make it all seem brand new, even in its most familiar parts. Longlegs is a portrait of pieces of Perkins’ life and grievances far removed from the film’s plot on the surface but is heavily influenced by his vision and outlook on how the world is not a protective place regardless of the walls put up to cast out darkness.

Perkins has a commanding presence on screen. His directing has only gotten more elevated with every film and this movie is no exception. Shooting close ups, facing upward on his characters, he creates a presence to them where they have a hold over us that makes it impossible to not latch onto. Perkins plays on his audience’s knowledge of horror direction, placing the protagonist in the corner of his shots with a blurry, yet very distinguishable background in sight.

With anticipation that anything can happen behind our protagonist, with only us to warn her, this causes audience to shake in their boots, even when nothing frightening is happening on screen. Perkins knows that a looming atmosphere that drags through every scene is stronger than any booming bump in the night. Just like a startle from a friend who taps you on the shoulder, scary visuals last for a moment. Being sucked into the depths of Oz Perkin’s mind through Longlegs will likely last for years to come. Just when one begins to forget, it comes creeping back around like the inevitability of shall we say, a birthday.

‘Longlegs’ Rating – 4.5/5

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