Longlegs Parent Guide

For the past ten years, the FBI has been hunting an elusive and unusual serial killer. Entire families are slaughtered, and the police would categorize these deaths as murder-suicides but for the letters left behind at the crime scenes. They contain a dense cipher (as yet uncracked) and are all signed “Longlegs” (Nicolas Cage). After stumbling onto one of the culprit’s hiding places, the Bureau brings young agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) on to the task force hunting Longlegs. With no suspects, no leads, and no end in sight to the killing, there’s no shortage of work to be done. Digging through the files puts Lee on a closer, more occult track – but if she’s right, is this really a man you want to get any closer to?

Tense, frightening, and generally unpleasant, Longlegs succeeds admirably in coaxing its audience into a truly unsettling atmosphere. This isn’t just the kind of arthouse horror I tend to wax lyrical about, though – there are some solid jump scares, and plenty of disturbing content to keep you wide-eyed and nervous for hours. I, accordingly, had a lovely time. Nicolas Cage is, predictably, gnawing on the scenery, but the film is written in such a way that he remains frightening. The less you see of your villain, the scarier he usually is, and Longlegs works on that principle. You see enough to keep you creeped out, but not so much that you just start seeing Nic Cage going bananas.

The film’s R-rating mostly comes from its graphic violence, which includes shootings, stabbings, axe murder, and suicide. There are somehow no references to or depictions of sexual content, but there is some very brief profanity, and nearly background smoking and drinking. I’m surprised that the filmmakers opted for such a mild approach to sex and swearing, given the Restricted rating. The people who are okay with the grisly ins and outs of occult serial murder are usually pretty comfy with some cussing. I appreciated it, if for no other reason, than because I got to spend more time watching the movie and less time taking notes.

Longlegs has some ups and downs, but even when there doesn’t seem to be much going on, the movie has you so twitchy that you’re poring over every dark corner in frame. Sometimes you think you see movement, or eyes in the dark. Sometimes you’re right. It’s disturbing and nightmarish, and that’s exactly what it wants to be. Adult horror fans are likely to have a great time – but if you stumbled in here looking for Inside Out 2, you’re going to want to leave quickly. This gets dark, fast.