Longlegs disrupts its seriousness to pander to the Nicolas Cage fanboys: Film review

However, if you regard yourself as the average serious horror consumer and feel somewhat alien to the former approach, Longlegs will supply you with your needs though you’ll have to suffer the occasional buffoon-comedy disruption.

Longlegs attempts to please everyone, and it just about works. But don’t mistake it for a masterpiece in horror.

Director Oz Perkins, the son of Psycho (1960) star Anthony Perkins, takes us on a tale that follows FBI Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) as she hunts down a serial killer known as Longlegs (Nicolas Cage) who targets families on their young child’s birthday.

Perkins delivers a strong first act that introduces you to a tone made up of ingredients reminiscent of Sinister (2012), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), and the first season of True Detective.

Longlegs opens with a scene that captures our serial killer targeting a child.

However, we only manage to catch a glimpse of him due to Perkins’ decision to capture his killer in a tight 4:5 radio where we are only given the pleasure of seeing his torso, his face kept out of frame.

The creative decision of showing us ‘less is more’ leads to a feeling of intrigue and mystery that captivates you during the entirety of the first act.

By the time we get to the second act, this captivation dissolves as Perkins exposes his baby ‘Longlegs’, presenting an unrecognisable Cage as a killer more deranged than Buffalo Bill.

This is where the film's comedy is taken up a notch too high as the admirable seriousness in the narrative is weakened by Cage performing for his frothing fanboys.

The revelation of Longlegs’ appearance isn’t as terrifying as we imagined, with the expectation we may be introduced to somewhat of a reincarnation of Killer Bob from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.

The second act further weakens due to the delivery of the plot events. Not even Maika Monroe’s solid performance can entice you back onto the engaging ride the film starts you off on.

Thankfully, the final act brings some new twists and turns that pull Agent Harker deeper into the mystery, settling into an uncomfortable position that’s bound to make you care once again.

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Despite a weak revelation of the mystery Longlegs sets up, it was welcome to be pulled back into the serious tone we were introduced to at the start.

Albeit if the choice of end credits music pulls you back to the reminder that the art exists in conjunction with pandering to an audience that cares less about merit than it does having a beer with mates treating cinema like a theme park.

Dare I say it, if Nicholas Cage hadn’t starred in Longlegs, its legacy may have had a stronger outlook.