Longlegs Is Mostly Terrifying

As a dedicated horror movie enthusiast and someone who has spent countless hours immersed in the genre, I can confidently say that Osgood Perkins’ “Longlegs” is a chilling and thought-provoking addition to the modern horror canon. The film’s unique style and unsettling atmosphere had me fully captivated for an hour straight, leaving me on the edge of my seat in both fear and fascination.

Osgood Perkins’s disturbing film “Longlegs” holds the audience captivated for an hour or more with its unsettling allure. The movie’s impact isn’t solely due to its well-timed jump scares or a bizarre plotline. Instead, Perkins skillfully manipulates cinematography and editing with an uncanny touch. He takes ordinary storylines about an FBI agent hunting a serial killer (similar to “Silence of the Lambs”) and sets them in mundane locations like suburban homes and empty farms. However, the way he frames and shoots these scenes creates an otherworldly feeling. His compositions are off-kilter, and his angles are unusually wide. The result is a movie that feels both familiar and alien at the same time, with a Lynchian sense of the eerily surreal.

As a seasoned film critic with a keen interest in psychological thrillers, I find the plot of this movie intriguing and thought-provoking. The way Lee Harker’s character is portrayed by Maika Monroe adds an extra layer of tension to the story. Her fidgety anxiety and tense delivery of lines create an uneasy feeling that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

In simpler terms, “Longlegs” is a contemporary horror film where evil spreads and intensifies among us instead of coming from typical sources like slashers or serial killers. The true terror lies in the potential for ordinary people to inflict harm on society as a whole. This concept isn’t new; films such as “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “Night of the Living Dead,” and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Cure” have explored this theme. Going back in time, German Expressionist thrillers from the Weimar era often depicted mysterious figures capable of controlling others’ minds and making them commit heinous acts. These fictional characters like Caligari, Mabuse, and Nosferatu foreshadowed the emergence of real-life madmen throughout history. The most captivating horror concepts in recent years seem to draw on the idea that our friends and neighbors could be driven by elusive, powerful forces to commit great evil. Horror, as always, serves as a mirror reflecting society’s fear of one another.

In a fascinating twist, the unbalanced demeanor of “Longlegs” in this story adds depth to the concept. Perkins skillfully conveys essential details in an intriguing, disconcerting manner. An unusual serial-killer enigma unfolds, as we’ve been introduced to Longlegs – albeit with a familiar face, Nicolas Cage, revealed in the opening credits. Perkins maintains tension throughout, preventing us from becoming comfortable and keeping us on edge, perhaps mirroring Harker’s own internal turmoil.

Longlegs manages to sustain an unsettling atmosphere throughout its length, but unfortunately, like many horror films, it succumbs to the need for explanation in the climax. The final act becomes bogged down in excessive exposition, providing an overwhelming amount of information while leaving us bewildered. Director Perkins attempts to unravel the plot’s mysteries while preserving his artistic vision, but the tension between form and content eventually becomes unsustainable. As horror films thrive on the fear of the unknown, true masters in the genre leave us guessing, prolonging the terror long after the end credits roll. Longlegs is undeniably terrifying for most of its duration and will surely appease horror enthusiasts. However, the potential greatness that once seemed attainable slips away as the movie reaches its conclusion.

2024-07-22 19:27

Longlegs Is Mostly Terrifying

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