With Longlegswhere Nicolas Cage plays a terrifying murderer, Osgood Perkins, son of Anthony Perkins, the unforgettable Norman Bates of Psychoconfirms beyond any doubt that he has horror in his blood.
Nicolas Cage is capable of the best and the worst. In LonglegsOsgood Perkins’ fourth feature film (the horror film I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House), the performance he delivers falls into the first category. A terrifying cross between Hannibal Lecter, the Joker (Joaquin Phoenix version) and Pennywise, the so-called Longlegs he plays has everything it takes to enter the pantheon of horror movie villains.
Sporting long pale hair, a face reminiscent of an older actress who has abused collagen and other artifices, blood-curdling blue eyes, and an androgynous look like Marc Bolan in T. Rex, Nicolas Cage makes us jump with fear at his first appearance. Before his face appears entirely on the screen, the actor being framed at the height of the little girl to whom he is speaking, his high-pitched voice, his almost childish tone and his affected diction will quickly nail the viewer to his seat before the title of the film is even displayed.
Shot in 4/3 format, which with its rounded corners recalls an old photo album, this anxiety-inducing prologue set in the 1970s suggests a dizzying plunge into the traumas of youth. Then the action transports itself to the 1990s. True to form, Osgood Perkins patiently places the pieces of the puzzle. While he reserves a few shock effects and almost subliminal shots for later, the filmmaker focuses mainly on an atmosphere that is as gloomy as it is unusual, as if we were entering the mind of a deeply troubled person.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ENTRACT FILMS
Image from the film Longlegs
During an investigation, FBI agent Lee Harker (the excellent Maika Monroe, revealed in It Followsa horror drama by David Robert Mitchell) suddenly loses her partner. Following tests, she is discovered to have a gift as a medium. From then on, she teams up with her superior, Agent Carter (a solid Blair Underwood), to track down Longlegs, a satanic serial killer who has been decimating families for thirty years.
In addition to the encrypted letters he sends, this elusive assassin has the particularity of making dolls in the image of little girls born on the 14th.e day of the month. While a survivor (disturbing Kiernan Shipka, one of the young residents fighting evil forces in The Blackcoat’s DaughterPerkins’ first film) could help him catch Longlegs, Lee has to deal with his mother (Alicia Witt, who overdoes it a bit), a devout nutcase.
Unbearable atmosphere
From the outset, the comparisons with The Silence of the Lambsby Jonathan Demme, as well as with Seven And Zodiacby David Fincher, appear only to disappear almost immediately. Sure, the young agent will have a hard-hitting encounter with the assassin, but the nature of their relationship has nothing to do with the one Clarice had with Lecter.
Like Fincher’s films, the atmosphere is so macabre that it becomes unbearable, but the leads that Perkins throws are far fewer and the investigation takes a supernatural turn very early on. Despite a satisfying conclusion, this aspect of the scenario leads to some disappointed expectations and unanswered questions.
Aesthetically, however, there is nothing to complain about. Benefiting from the careful cinematography of Andres Arochi and the precise staging of Perkins, the images are by turns blindingly sharp, austerely elegant and sculpted with menacing shadows.
At the heart of this slow, cruel suspense with nightmarish overtones, Osgood Perkins allows himself a few comical moments, notably in the scenes where Lee, antisocial and clumsy, is forced to exchange more than three words. If the filmmaker lightens everything up in this way, it is only to then sink even deeper into the horror. Finally, if Longlegs doesn’t come haunting your dreams, chances are you won’t listen anymore Get It Onof T. Rex, without thinking of the monstrous face of Nicolas Cage.
Indoors
An early version of this text mentioned River Phoenix as the Joker’s interpreter. Of course, it is Joaquin Phoenix. Our apologies.
Horror drama
Longlegs
Osgood Perkins
Maika Monroe, Blair Underwood, Nicolas Cage
1 h 41