It seems to be a common factor in horror movies to put, as part of their advertising campaign, that their film is the scariest movie of all time, of the year, or of the week. The truth is none of them are that scary, and you leave the cinema feeling slightly cheated. Longlegs has done that, announcing it as the year’s scariest movie. It isn’t, but what would have been better is to call it the creepiest movie of the year. This serial killer thriller is brimming with atmosphere and skin-crawling shocks that are well-produced and include a masterclass. It is utter madness from a performer we have come to expect.

Lee Harker is an FBI agent hired to investigate a series of grisly murders that seem to have happened within the family unit. The only clues are a collection of letters made up of symbols from someone called Longlegs. Harker, who seems to have psychic powers, soon discovers as she digs deeper into the strange letters that they lead to the Book of Revelation and possible devil worshipping, as well as a connection closer to home.

Written and directed by Osgood Perkins, the son of Anthony Perkins, who played Norman Bates in Psycho, the film takes a conventional tale of serial killers and gives it a twisted slant. It also uses the filmmaking process to make the audience feel uncomfortable and ill at ease. He plays with screen format to convey time, going from 2:35 format (full screen) to academy (square screen) as part of jumping back in time, with its grainy film stock, going from 80s small-town America to the 70s, where a young girl meets a strange white-suited man with an odd voice. Perkins also starts the film using the academy with its bright red screen, moving to full screen as the credits play over it. He even uses a quote from T-Rex’s Get It On as its opening.

The main action follows Agent Harker as she tries to piece together the clues and how someone can cause mass murder without leaving a single fingerprint or DNA as she goes deeper and explores the possibility that demonic forces could be involved. Like Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs, it is a quiet, almost emotionless FBI agent brought in to help with the investigation, which has to look into the crimes where whole families are being wiped out in a brutal and bloody manner.

Perkins uses screen size and his ability to give the movie a dark atmosphere without forgetting his audience wants to see what is happening, so lighting plays an important part. The soundscape is as intricate as he plays with needle drops, hence the T-Rex reference at the beginning to the unsettling noises and score by Zilgi or Osgood’s elder brother, Elvis Perkins. The whole film sits in a world of atmosphere and doesn’t need to rely on jump scares or a quiet, quiet, loud soundtrack.

The performances are terrific. Blair Underwood is ideally suited as the boss of the investigation, while Alicia Witt is nicely strange as Harker’s hoarder mother. As Agent Lee Harker, Maika Monroe, who made a huge splash in the horror It Follows, is excellent as the sour-faced investigator. She has this permanent look of a scarred woman, and she holds our attention throughout as she puts together the pieces to this dark and disturbing case. She takes us on this journey of relentless horror, and every inch of pain crosses her face as she discovers the truth about the crimes and herself.

As the title character, Longlegs, it is up to Nicolas Cage to give another over-the-top performance we have come to love about this unique actor, and he doesn’t disappoint. With prosthetics covering his familiar features, he becomes almost a hypnotic character who chills every time he appears. The voice cuts through you, and he delivers one of the nastier moments in the film. It’s another memorable Cage performance.

If you seek a blood-fest with plenty of jumps, you will be disappointed. If you are after an intelligent, atmospheric horror that treats its audience with respect and you want to admire a director who knows how to deal with absolute horror, then Longlegs is the one for you. It was definitely the one for me.

4 out of 5

Director: Osgood Perkins

Starring: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt, Michelle Choi-Lee, Dakota Daulby, Lauren Acala, Kiernan Shipka

Written by Osgood Perkins

Running Time: 101 mins

Cert: 15

Release date: 12th July 2024