Jump to content

Longlegs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Longlegs
Theatrical release poster
Directed byOsgood Perkins
Written byOsgood Perkins
Produced by
  • Dan Kagan
  • Brian Kavanaugh-Jones
  • Nicolas Cage
  • Dave Caplan
  • Chris Ferguson
Starring
CinematographyAndrés Arochi
Edited by
  • Greg Ng
  • Graham Fortin
Music byZilgi
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • July 12, 2024 (2024-07-12)
Running time
101 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3 million[4]

Longlegs is a 2024 American horror thriller film written and directed by Osgood Perkins. It stars Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage, who also produced the film through his Saturn Films production company. The cast also features Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt, Michelle Choi-Lee, Dakota Daulby, and Kiernan Shipka in supporting roles. The film follows an FBI agent tasked with tracking down an occultist serial killer, whom she realises she has a personal connection to.

Longlegs was released in the United States by Neon on July 12, 2024. It received positive reviews from critics.

Plot[edit]

A little girl with a Polaroid camera follows a mysterious voice behind her house, where she is suddenly approached by an erratic man with a pale, white face, who mentions that it is almost her birthday.

While on a manhunt for a serial killer, FBI agent Lee Harker, through pure intuition, successfully points out the house he is hiding in. Later, tests reveal that she possesses potential clairvoyant abilities. As a result, Harker is assigned to a decades-spanning case of a series of brutal murder-suicides targeting families. Each family had the father figure snap and murder his wife and children before taking his own life, and each crime scene features a letter with cryptic Satanic coding, signed "Longlegs" at the bottom. The handwriting belongs to none of the victims, despite no forensic evidence of any home invasion or outside parties present.

Harker connects more similarities between the families - each had at least one 9 year-old daughter born on the 14th of the month - and the murders all occurred within the 6 days before or after the birthday itself. When written out, the dates of the murders form an upside-down pentagram, with one date missing to complete the shape.

Following a clue, Harker and her superior Carter unearth a doll buried beneath a former crime scene, and inside its head, they find a strange metal orb. Harker sees violent psychic flashes when they interact with it, and the person assisting them admits that he thought he could hear his ex-wife speaking to him earlier while near the doll. Despite Carter’s skepticism, Harker theorizes that each family has been receiving a similar doll from Longlegs and he has been infusing the orbs within them with some sort of evil energy that can possess and influence those close to it.

While visiting her mother Ruth, Harker finds a chest in her childhood bedroom containing a stack of Polaroids. Among them is a picture of the pale-faced man, revealing Harker to be the girl from the introduction. Knowing now that she was visited by Longlegs, Harker submits the picture, allowing the FBI to track him down and arrest him. Longlegs expresses his desire to see Harker. In the interrogation room, Longlegs tells Harker he serves "the man downstairs". After wishing her a happy birthday and telling her to ask her mother about potential accomplices, Longlegs praises Satan and gruesomely smashes his head on the table, killing himself.

Wanting to confront her mother about her connection to Longlegs, Harker drives to her house with another agent. From her bedroom window, she witnesses her mother murder the agent. Harker races outside to find her mother, who shoots off the head of a doll resembling a young Harker, causing Harker to suddenly faint.

It is revealed that Harker's mother has been Longlegs' accomplice ever since Lee’s encounter with him. Longlegs returned in the night to attack and subdue Ruth, forcing her to make a choice -  let her daughter be murdered as part of the ritual, or to do his bidding to spare her. She complied, leaving Harker to be the missing birthday on the pentagram all along. Longlegs has lived in the Harker house basement as “the man downstairs” ever since, creating dolls he would infuse with his satanic magic to give to Ruth, who would pose as a nun delivering a gift from the church, bringing the dolls to the families. Harker had her own doll created that has been guiding her with the satanic influence of Longlegs since childhood.

Waking up in the basement, Harker answers the phone to hear "You're late for Ruby's party." Realizing Agent Carter’s daughter Ruby has her 9th birthday that day and it is the missing date the pentagram needs. Racing to intervene, she is horrified to find her mother already at the Carter’s, who are all already possessed. After Carter murders his wife, Harker shoots and kills Carter to protect Ruby. Harker’s mother brandishes a knife, and Harker is forced to shoot and kill her as well.

Harker attempts to shoot the doll, but finds she is out of bullets. She tells Ruby they need to leave, but finds herself falling into a trance as she stares at the doll, while Ruby waits behind her emotionlessly among the carnage.

Cast[edit]

  • Maika Monroe as Lee Harker, an FBI agent assigned to Longlegs' case
    • Lauren Acala as young Lee
  • Nicolas Cage as Longlegs, an elusive serial killer being hunted down by the FBI
  • Blair Underwood as Agent Carter, Lee's superior
  • Alicia Witt as Ruth Harker, Lee's religious mother
  • Michelle Choi-Lee as Agent Browning
  • Dakota Daulby as Agent Horatio Fisk
  • Kiernan Shipka as Carrie Anne Camera, Longlegs' only known survivor
    • Maila Hosie as young Carrie Anne
  • Jason Day as Father Camera
  • Lisa Chandler as Mother Camera
  • Ava Kelders as Ruby Carter
    • Rryla McIntosh as an adult Ruby
  • Carmel Amit as Anna Carter
  • Peter James Bryant as senior FBI agent

Production[edit]

In November 2022, it was reported that Osgood Perkins would direct from a script he wrote.[5] Nicolas Cage signed on to produce (under his Saturn Films banner) and star in the horror thriller film as a serial killer.[2][6] In February 2023, Maika Monroe signed on as FBI agent Lee Harker.[2] The following month, Alicia Witt and Blair Underwood joined the cast.[7]

Principal photography took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, from January 16 to February 23, 2023, with Andrés Arochi serving as cinematographer.[8][6]

Music[edit]

The film's soundtrack was composed by Zilgi. There were contributing tracks by sound designer Eugenio Battagila and Melody Carrillo with Elizabeth Wight. The soundtrack was released on July 12, 2024 on streaming platforms and with an official vinyl.[9]

Release[edit]

In February 2023, Neon acquired the film's North American rights at the European Film Market.[10] The film had a screening at Los Angeles's Beyond Fest on May 31, 2024.[11] Longlegs premiered at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles on July 8, 2024.[12]

It was released in North America and the United Kingdom on July 12, 2024.[6][13]

Longlegs held several special screenings across the United States throughout July 8-13, 2024.[14] This also included a 'parent-free' RSVP screening at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Brooklyn, New York on July 12, 2024. The film's marketing team encouraged teens to attend with a provided bloody nun as their legal guardian.[15]

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

In the United States and Canada, Longlegs will be released alongside Fly Me to the Moon, and was initially projected to gross $7–9 million from 2,500 theaters in its opening weekend.[16] After making $3 million from Thursday night previews (a record for Neon), weekend estimates were raised to $10–15 million.[17]

Critical response[edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 87% of 151 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Saturated in disquieting mood while leveraging a nightmarishly gonzo performance by Nicolas Cage, Longlegs is a satanic horror that effectively instills panic."[18] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 44 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[19]

David Rooney writing for The Hollywood Reporter praised the film, saying "It might be argued that he stirs too many elements into the mix here — crime procedural, occult mystery, mind manipulation, Satanic worship, scary dolls, a Faustian bargain and a 'nun' not fit for any convent. But Longlegs is [Perkins'] most fully realized and relentlessly effective film to date".[20] Bob Strauss of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Most impressive is how Perkins blends psychological and supernatural horror in a manner not quite seen before. Longlegs is a conjuring of dark, poetic cinema where the devil is definitely in the details".[21] Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson thought the film was disappointing, writing "Longlegs is stylish but vacuous, a prettily foreboding picture with nothing behind it. As Hannibal Lecter might say, it's a well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste".[22]

J. Hurtado of Screen Anarchy declared Longlegs "a masterpiece; an unholy, horrifying confluence of high art and anxiety, a film in which every frame is a nightmare, and it's beautiful."[23] Writing for Bloody Disgusting, Meagan Navarro praised Longlegs' performances and atmosphere, concluding, "Longlegs is as stylish as it is timeless, dripping with claustrophobic dread and rot."[24] Bill Bria of /Film called Longlegs "the most terrifying horror movie of 2024," noting the film's "rock n' roll spirit."[25]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (June 20, 2023). "Prolific La La Land Producer Automatik Merges With Range Media Partners". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 21, 2023. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Ravindran, Manori (February 6, 2023). "Nicolas Cage Horror 'Longlegs' Casts 'It Follows' Star Maika Monroe, Black Bear International to Launch Sales at EFM (Exclusive)". Variety. Archived from the original on February 6, 2023. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  3. ^ "Longlegs (15)". British Board of Film Classification. June 27, 2024. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
  4. ^ "Longlegs – Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  5. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (November 11, 2022). "Nicolas Cage To Star In Horror-Thriller 'Longlegs' For C2, Automatik & Cage's Saturn Films; 'Sinister', 'La La Land' Producers & 'Joker' Exec Among Team". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 15, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c Lattanzio, Ryan (February 2, 2024). "Longlegs Teaser: Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe Star in Neon's Mysterious Serial Killer Horror Movie". IndieWire. Retrieved February 2, 2024.
  7. ^ Grobar, Matt (March 6, 2023). "Alicia Witt & Blair Underwood Join Nicolas Cage, Maika Monroe In Longlegs Horror-Thriller". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  8. ^ "In Production - Creative BC". Creative BC Film Commission. Archived from the original on January 15, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  9. ^ "Longlegs Soundtrack Album Details". Film Music Reporter. July 10, 2024. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  10. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (February 19, 2023). "Neon In Pole Position For Nicolas Cage Horror-Thriller 'Longlegs' Marking First Sizeable Domestic Deal Of EFM". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  11. ^ Peters, Daniel (June 1, 2024). "Nicolas Cage horror movie Longlegs gets rave reactions following surprise screening". NME. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  12. ^ "LONGLEGS". American Cinematheque. Archived from the original on July 4, 2024. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
  13. ^ Travis, Ben (June 17, 2024). "Longlegs UK Release Date Confirmed For July". Empire. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  14. ^ "LONGLEGS | NEON". neonrated.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2024. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  15. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 12, 2024). "Longlegs Lookin' Good With $3M Preview Record For Neon; Fly Me To The Moon Does $875K – Box Office Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  16. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 9, 2024). "Gru To Rule With $33M+ As 'Fly Me To The Moon', 'Longlegs' Provide Depth To Weekend Box Office – Preview". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  17. ^ Moreau, Jordan (July 12, 2024). "Box Office: 'Longlegs' Makes $3 Million in Previews, Surpassing 'Immaculate' to Set Neon Record". Variety. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  18. ^ "Longlegs". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  19. ^ "Longlegs". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  20. ^ Rooney, David (July 6, 2024). "Longlegs Review: Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage in a Mesmerizing Serial Killer Chiller That Burns With Satanic Power". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  21. ^ Strauss, Bob (July 8, 2024). "Review: In Longlegs, Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe go to impressively disturbing extremes". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  22. ^ Lawson, Richard (July 10, 2024). "Longlegs Is a Grueling Collage of Far Better Films". Vanity Fair. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  23. ^ "Longlegs Review: Every Frame Is A Nightmare In The Year's Best Horror Film To Date". ScreenAnarchy. June 10, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  24. ^ Navarro, Meagan (June 10, 2024). "Longlegs Review – Oz Perkins' Latest Gets Under Your Skin and Festers Like a Putrid Nightmare". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  25. ^ Bria, Bill (June 10, 2024). "Longlegs Review: Osgood Perkins' Masterpiece Is The Most Terrifying Horror Movie Of 2024". /Film. Retrieved June 11, 2024.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Longlegs&oldid=1234208054"