Yahoo News Is“ Longlegs ”Really That Scary? Inside the Horror Movie's Gruesome Twists and Turns (Spoilers!)
Osgood Perkins’ creepy tale starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage is one of the scariest of the year
Courtesy of NEON
Maika Monroe in 'Longlegs'(Warning: This article contains spoilers for Longlegs.)
Longlegs, the buzzed-about new horror movie opening on July 12, is likely to live on in the nightmares of those brave enough to see it.
Some critics are calling the Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage thriller "the most terrifying horror movie of 2024.” Others are comparing it to cinematic predecessors as acclaimed as The Silence of the Lambs, Seven and Zodiac.
Can you stomach the anxiety-inducing atmosphere — and violent twists — in director Osgood Perkins’ serial killer saga? Read on to judge for yourself, and be sure to creep like a daddy long-legs spider around spoilers.
Longlegs earns its R rating
Ahead of its July 12 theatrical release, Longlegs received an R rating from the Motion Picture Association “for bloody violence, disturbing images and some language.”
In case it’s not abundantly clear, this is not a movie for children. An R rating means that audience members under the age of 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
A prologue sets the stage for the Longlegs' serial killer mystery and creepy tone. Cage’s titular villain seems to hide in plain sight: shown only from the chin down for the majority of the movie, his singsongy voice and pale, old-timey clothing help create a deeply unsettling vibe. The Satanist is not seen in full until the final act of the movie, but his eerie presence can be felt throughout.
Monroe’s character, Lee Harker, is a newly hired FBI agent in the mid-1990s, After the hunt for a different serial killer results in her partner being shot — one of several shocks that those opposed to jump scares should be wary of — Harker is assigned to a new case by her boss, Agent Carter (played by Blair Underwood).
The case files contain grisly crime scene photos of Cage’s character’s victims, each killed in different ways but with his cryptic notes — signed "Longlegs" — in common. As Harker herself begins to receive messages and even visits from the killer, she encounters violence, a psychologically disturbed witness (Kiernan Shipka) and, in an occult twist, lifelike dolls of girls that contain a supernaturally evil presence.
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(Left-right:) Osgood Perkins and Nicolas Cage at a screening of 'Longlegs' on May 31Disturbing images abound
Longlegs director Perkins, as the son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins, continues his father’s horror legacy in crafting what PEOPLE called in its review “the year’s most heebie-jeebies-inducing thriller.” While Longlegs features plenty of plot twists, it’s the sights and sounds that infest Perkins' movie that make it so terrifying.
Those with ophidiophobia (a fear of snakes) or entomophobia (a fear of insects) may also feel uncomfortable thanks to stomach-churning glimpses of those creatures throughout the film.
More spoilers: Lee’s mother Ruth (Alicia Witt) turns out to have a shocking connection to Longlegs’ killings, having made a deal with the monster to assist him in exchange for her daughter’s protection. Perkins’ atmosphere of dread hits a fever pitch late in the movie as it becomes clear that Agent Carter and his family are, by Longlegs’ demonic calculations, the next victims.
Courtesy of NEON
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There will be blood
While nerve-shredded audiences might feel that they’ve witnessed plenty of violence as Longlegs approaches its conclusion, Perkins saves most of the actual blood for the denouement. Lee finally tracks down and comes face-to-face with a fleeing Longlegs, who while in confinement praises Satan and smashes his skull repeatedly into a desk until dead.
Lee arrives at her childhood home to question her mother about encountering Longlegs years before. Ruth, who it turns out has been housing Longlegs’ creepy doll workshop in her basement, brutally shoots FBI Agent Browning (Michelle Choi-Lee) and proceeds to deliver the Carters’ sinister doll to them.
Related: Horror Movies Based on Real-Life Stories
Carter, under the doll’s spell, begins murdering his family by stabbing his wife — an act that occurs offscreen as Lee attempts to reason with Ruth and protect Carter's daughter. When he returns to finish the evil act, Lee shoots him and then her mother dead. Turning on the demonic doll, her gun clicks empty.
The film ends back in the killer’s interrogation cell, as he kisses us, the audience, goodbye. Longlegs is in theaters now.
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