The surprise horror hit of the year has finally made its cryptic debut to Blu-Ray! Osgood Perkins, notably the son of film legend Anthony Perkins, has been toying within the genre for quite some time—2020’s Gretel & Hansel was a flawed movie with some great visuals and an absolutely fantastic score, and I have still yet to see his I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, or 2015’s The Blackcoat’s Daughter. Still, Longlegs marks Perkins’s most buzzed about title to date. After months of mysterious advertising, the unhinged satanic serial killer freakiness made for quite a divisive, Silence of the Lambs-adjacent oddity. In limited screentime, the unnerving nature of Nicolas Cage’s freaky central baddie stands as one of the seasoned actor’s most fascinating onscreen transformations to date. For those who can tune into its bizarro wavelength, Longlegs delivers on nightmarish visuals and haunting atmosphere.
Being that the film at large has already released, this will be a spoiler-filled review, so reader beware. Modern-day scream queen Maika Monroe (It Follows, Watcher, The Guest) plays Agent Lee Harker, our central focal point on this quirky ride through demonic hell. Lee gets called in to her newest case, one that sprawls back three decades into the past, from ten houses to ten families destroyed by similar means. Lee’s strange proclivities give her a surprising connection to the murders. Lee’s boss, Agent Carter (Blair Underwood, Gattaca, Bad Hair), actually allows her to follows her instincts as the freaky clues emerge front-row center. The occult flavor of Longlegs begins to creep out, as we also get to see smaller side sequences with the man of the hour.
In full prosthetic makeup bloating his face and lips, Nicolas Cage would be completely unrecognizable if not for his creepy, sing-song voice. As Longlegs, Cage’s transformative performance may just be the actor’s greatest work yet this decade. The interrogation scene stands tall as the best of the movie, an intense sequence that delves into the killer’s psyche to hint at darker forces at play. Everything in the film builds to this clash between Lee and Longlegs—both Cage and Monroe deliver awards-worthy work. Another shocking twist involving Lee’s psychotically religious mother (Alicia Witt, Urban Legend, The Walking Dead) adds layers of betrayal and complexity to the family dynamic. Longlegs being a “dollmaker” working on behalf of the devil should leave faith-conscious believers quaking. Witt and Kiernan Skipka are both electric in their respective roles, with the latter making the most of her single scene. Witt has come a long way from shaky final girl to dynamic evil villainess in Longlegs—she has plenty left to show, and Perkins’s vision helps Witt to a memorably wicked portrayal.
A slow unraveling of the truth keeps the audience on edge, but it is definitely a slow burn. Personally, that worked even better for me on a rewatch, where I could absorb the rich subtext from the comfort of my own home. The supernatural elements, while effective, might feel underdeveloped for those expecting a more straightforward psychological thriller. While the comparisons to Silence of the Lambs are apt, expecting a 1:1 iteration will no doubt lead to disappointment. Longlegs is as much Twin Peaks, Hannibal, and Se7en as it is Silence of the Lambs. All of this is to say that Perkins uses a number of inspirations to make Longlegs into the singular vision we see on the screen. Even a unique stylistic choice in playing the film’s credits backwards feels unsettlingly off-kilter, perfectly in line with the rest of the disturbing aesthetic. Perkins pays attention to all of the details, also evoking a fellow modern filmmaker in the style of Ari Aster.
Special features on this Blu-Ray disc are aplenty. On-set interviews with Maika Monroe, Osgood Perkins, Alicia Witt, and Blair Underwood give a general overview of their characters and what it was like working with each other professionally. There are definitely spoilers, but why would anyone be watching without having seen the movie anyway? Sadly, Nicolas Cage as Longlegs does not get interviewed. Also included are three separate “clues” videos; “evidence,” which is essentially a slideshow of pictures of the house and crime scene photos; three separate trailers; and a feature-length commentary with writer/director Osgood Perkins. Despite some ambiguity in its occult elements, Longlegs is a haunting and effective psychological horror that stands out for its unsettling style and darkly mysterious narrative.
Unravel the intricate horror of Longlegs, now available to own on Blu-Ray wherever physical media is sold.
