This subversively disturbing chiller by Oz Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter) is about Lee Harker, a haunted, rookie FBI agent (sensational Maika Monroe), with possible psychic abilities, on the hunt for a frightening serial killer who calls himself “Longlegs.” The fiend remotely causes suburban fathers to violently annihilate their families and delights in leaving authorities cryptic, encoded, Zodiac Killer-like notes behind.
Nicolas Cage is almost unrecognizable as a mysterious, long-haired, deathly pale, lumpy-faced, maker of life-sized dolls. He also is a lover of the 60s English rock group T Rex and Satan (maybe not in that order).
Blair Underwood plays seasoned Agent Carter, Harker’s FBI partner. It’s wonderful to see Underwood again- I’ve been a fan of his ever since he played “Bobby Blue” on One Life to Live. Alicia Witt is just phenomenal as Lee Harker’s incredibly weird, deeply damaged, mother.
What was frustrating about Oz Perkin’s earlier films was, that, while they always looked amazing and they had this slow-burn strangeness about them, they just didn’t grab you the way this does. Perkins has a way of framing a simple shot- like the outside of a house, or looking out through a car windshield, or even the inside of a barn adorned with crosses- and filling you with unexplained dread. This film feels of one piece and it keeps whittling away at your nerves throughout.
I swear I haven’t been this creeped out since Ari Aster’s Hereditary. Not that they are similar- they’re not. But they are beautifully crafted, insidiously constructed and both pure nightmare fuel.
