Longlegs (2024)
“There she is, the Almost Birthday Girl”
Through faint discordant and distorted music the film begins and indeed ends with the 1971 song “Get it On” by T Rex and here at the very beginning of the film the second verse
“Well, you’re slim
And you’re weak
You’ve got the teeth of a hydra upon you
You’re dirty sweet
And you’re my girl”
is framed in a rounded, blood red 4:3 aspect ratio and jet black font. As the colour dissolves into black and white the frame ratio remains and we find ourselves within a car driving slowly before easing to a stop in heavy snow, a residential house now front and centre in the distance. A quick cut sees the colour palette change to standard colour and a young girl with pigtails is seen sitting at a window now peering outside at the car, now seen for the first time as a 1970’s era station wagon. Descending the stairs of the house the young girl puts on a bright red coat and leaves the house, the front door loudly locking behind her. As the young girl walks toward the car she stops abruptly, framed brilliantly in close-up with the house just over her shoulder. The first words of the film are now audible, a very faint “cuckoo” and the girl beats a slow retreat back towards the house before stopping again, looking left, looking right, eerie sounds greeting her at each turn as she sees a blanket of snow all around her and snow hanging from a wintry, drooping tree. A horrifying sound greets the introduction of “Longlegs” (Nicolas Cage), a pale white aged figure dressed all in grey, straggly hair framing his grotesque facial features. Despite the shocking figure before her the young girl appears calm as Longlegs announces
“There she is, the Almost Birthday Girl”
Longlegs is still not seen fully and only from his nose and discoloured teeth downward as he continues
“Oh, but…it seems I wore my long legs today. What happens if I…?
before bending fully into frame for a fraction of a second and amid horrifying, discordant sounds once more…
“LONGLEGS” is displayed in a large jet black font still surrounded by a solid blood red colouring in a 1970’s style 4:3 aspect frame ratio. The film’s opening credits are now displayed within the same frame ratio and same jet black font against a blood red background, all accompanied by “Jewel” by T Rex as slivers of images, almost subliminally, are fractured between the credits.
Fade to Black.
“Part One — His Letters”
A normal, cinema wide aspect ratio introduces us to “Lee Harker” (Maika Monroe) a lone woman in a room full of men, FBI Agents all, assigned to track down a known serial killer. Lee looks pensive, disinterested perhaps or lost in her own thoughts, forever looking straight ahead or down. A quick cut takes us from a busy briefing room to a quiet residential street and with Lee downbeat and still lost in her own thoughts her male colleague takes charge, exiting the car to begin the task of going door to door in search of information or indeed clues to the location of the killer. The discordant sounds return as Lee now slowly exits the car and although her partner returns with information that we, and Lee, only hear via muffled sounds, she’s settled on a nearby house. “It’s that one” she gasps “3525”. Lee is certain, calling for back-up, “He’s in there”. Her partner refuses to call for assistance before offering to check the house himself. A return camera angle now frames Lee, still dispassionate and dead eyed in her blood red blouse as she slowly follows her partner. A knock at the door is quickly followed by a gunshot blast that knocks her partner clean from his feet, blood now pooling around his obviously now dead body. Breathing heavily now and with her gun drawn, Lee enters an empty house and after checking the downstairs rooms, ascends the stairs. Gasping and struggling to catch her breath, Lee enters an empty bedroom, empty that is of furniture but not of a male figure sitting on a bed with his back to her, hands above his head.
“Don’t move” she orders, her gun pointed directly at him.
“I won’t” he replies quietly.
Directed by Osgood Perkins (son of Psycho actor Anthony Perkins) Longlegs is the New York born filmmaker’s fourth outing in the director’s chair to date and a quite remarkable, if horribly disturbing achievement. There are obvious parallels to be made with films such as Silence of the Lambs (directed by Jonathan Demme) or particularly 2007’s Zodiac directed by David Fincher as there are clues laid out before us, a decade’s old riddle to be solved, as well as a “coded alphabet” or cipher to be unravelled. Spanning two decades or more there are ten murders to be solved, ten families destroyed, and a Satan worshipping serial killer on the loose.
Or is there?
Tasked with resolving these grisly murders is Lee Harker, an arguable clairvoyant with seemingly psychic powers of detection she describes as a “tapping on the shoulder” and whilst her somewhat out of his depth boss “Agent Carter” (Blair Underwood) describes her as “highly intuitive”, Lee sifts through the available evidence, ancient and modern, as she receives a birthday card from the suspected serial killer in the dead of night. Caught between her boss and her mother “Ruth Harker” (Alicia Witt), Lee cuts an odd and awkwardly detached figure perfectly in keeping with such an odd and creepy film. One might argue Lee to be a savant lost in her own analytical thoughts, coldly detached with only the hint of a smile reserved for the mother she dotes on. Lee struggles to maintain any kind of eye contact, forever looking down or away from anyone in her orbit save the clues and ciphers she pores over, quickly resolves and a suspect named. Flashbacks return us and Lee back two decades to chance encounters, memories of childhood, the protection of her mother, the meeting of a man who will shape her past, present and future, and a man in league with Satan doing the devil’s evil work.
“Our prayers protect us from the devil” so intones Lee’s mother, but will they protect Lee?
As a particularly difficult to please fan of horror films Longlegs blew me away on first viewing and was equally skin crawling and disturbing on my second. It’s oddly creepy and equally oddly framed, both of which are compliments, with the heads of characters often missing out of a forever changing aspect ratio as the film often flits between the 4:3 ratio outlined at the beginning of the film to a more traditional wide screen. The film has a constantly building sense of dread, is unsettling, horribly off kilter, horribly brilliant and Nicolas Cage is having an absolute ball as the titular character! The soundscape of the film is full of jagged, discordant sounds and a sublime musical sound track is headlined by T Rex with a huge additional stream of original music from Zilgi, a pseudonym for the director’s brother, Elvis Perkins.
One of my favourite films of the year so far and one which may sneak into my top 10 picks come year’s end.
Highly recommended.
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