If we imagine what happened to Rosemary’s baby, we might consider the idea that the child grew up and became known as a character called Longlegs.
Except for the animated adventures found in “Inside Out 2” and “Despicable Me 4,” which are raking in hundreds of millions of dollars at the current box office, the hottest movies this year are horror films. That includes the recent “A Quiet Place: Day One,” an engaging mix of frightening terror and science fiction that has scored a quarter-billion dollars worldwide.
Horror movies have always been popular with audiences, and if you want to watch a triple feature of genuine classics, three of my favorites are Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” (1960), Roman Polanski’s “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968), and Brian De Palma’s “Carrie” (1976). Nothing compares to the originals of these features, all of which are masterpieces of cinematic expressionism. Each is available on DVD and Blu-ray, including in box sets, and through streaming. Less important are any remakes, reboots, prequels or sequels, especially the completely unnecessary “Carrie” from 2013. Watching this version of Stephen King’s novel is like seeing a magician pull a dead rabbit out of a hat.
We now have “Longlegs,” a shocking mixture of Satanism, “The Silence Of The Lambs,” and surrealism. The latter references an especially bountiful gift from writer-director Osgood Perkins, who, it must be mentioned, is the talented son of Anthony Perkins, the legendary actor who turned the crazed killer Norman Bates into a cinematic icon.
“Longlegs,” which is playing in theaters, is earning millions, not only because moviegoers love horror, but also because it takes a strikingly original character and gives him a startling thematic twist.
Perkins reaches into the historic motion picture cauldron of using malevolent dolls to pave a pathway for his new vision of evil. The infamous Chucky has nothing on the dolls in “Longlegs.” My favorite film involving an evil doll is 1978’s vastly underrated “Magic,” which is directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Anthony Hopkins as a ventriloquist with deep psychological problems. The screenplay is by William Goldman and is based on his novel. Discover the movie. If you don’t mind watching ads, “Magic” is available on Tubi for free.
The set-up for “Longlegs” is intriguing, to say the least. In Oregon in the 1970s,
a young girl, who has a Polaroid camera, sees a car outside her house and is soon hearing a mysterious voice that causes her to walk behind her home to find the source. A strange-looking man, with a huge, weirdly shaped head and pale white skin, approaches her. He is truly bizarre, and director Perkins heightens the oddness of the scene by not fully showing all of the man’s facial features.
We jump to the mid-1990s and are introduced to a new F.B.I. agent named Lee Harker, who is superbly acted by Maika Monroe. She is gifted with prodigious intuition. For example, she can sense that a murderer hides in a house. Harker is given some psychological tests, and it is believed that she has a propensity for clairvoyance.
She is then assigned to a long-standing series of horrific unsolved cases centering on a series of exceedingly violent murder-suicides throughout Oregon. Families have been brutally killed in a ritualistic manner. In each case, the father has murdered his wife and children before committing suicide. At each crime scene, a letter has been left with a cryptic message highlighted by coded Satanic symbols. The handwriting does not belong to any of the victims. The letters are signed: Longlegs. There is zero evidence of a possible home invasion or, in fact, that any other person was in the house.
The movie is essentially a procedural as Harker must find a solution to the mystery of the murders. Perkins allows us glimpses of her childhood and a rough transition to adulthood. Clues lead to more clues without satisfaction for the F.B.I., which includes a perfect Blair Underwood as Agent Carter, one of Harker’s supervisors. There are more than a dozen major references to Satanism, as well as a quote from Revelations 13:1, which is a Bible verse that is essential to the theme of the movie.
The character of the truly strange Longlegs is played by Nicolas Cage, who is terrific. Cage has created something classic. His Longlegs delivers moments of joyful, whimsical playfulness, and in a moment of gonzo insanity, his masochistic lunacy shocks Harder and the F.B.I. into stunned incomprehension. By association, of course, he also shatters the audience. I will not reveal anything else, but even if you go just to see Cage, you’ll be watching something extraordinary and wildly unique.
Perkins has created one of the best horror movies I’ve seen in a long time. Forget that overdone teenage slasher mentality that comprises far too many films, “Longlegs” is for adults. It doesn’t resort to stereotypical genre cliches for attention.
With this movie, Perkins and his entire production team have elevated horror to an exceptional new level. He shows great respect for the genre, and he uses the dolls to perfection. The visuals are dynamic. Some scenes look like paintings. The atmosphere is tense and foreboding. Perkins keeps his audience off-balance.
The robustly unsettling “Longlegs” is a must for horror movie fans. If horror isn’t a genre you usually seek out, you might consider changing your mind to see this very well-made, very accomplished exercise in fear. It unreels like a smart and well-crafted mystery. The film proceeds with madness, sometimes sheer madness, and a brilliant understanding on the part of Perkins as to what constitutes gripping terror.
Important awards are rarely given to movies like “Longlegs.” It’s time to reconsider this factor. During the Golden Age Of Hollywood, horror films were a much honored production staple. Two of the greatest silent masterpieces are “The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari” and “Nosferatu.”
“Longlegs” has earned the right to be in their company.