Longlegs (2024)

Plot Summary: An FBI agent with unique psychic abilities is assigned to track down a mysterious serial killer known as "Longlegs" who has been murdering families through apparent demonic possession since the 1970s.

Director: Osgood Perkins
Screenplay: Osgood Perkins
Producers: Dan Kagan, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Nicolas Cage, Dave Caplan, Chris Ferguson
Cinematography: Andrés Arochi Tinajero
Editors: Greg Ng, Graham Fortin
Music: Zilgi

Starring:
Maika Monroe as Lee Harker, an FBI agent
Lauren Acala as young Lee
Nicolas Cage as Longlegs (Dale Ferdinand Kobble), an elusive Satanic serial killer
Blair Underwood as Agent William Carter, one of Lee's superiors
Alicia Witt as Ruth Harker, Lee's religious mother
Michelle Choi-Lee as Agent Browning, one of Lee's superiors
Dakota Daulby as Agent Fisk, Lee's partner
Kiernan Shipka as Carrie Anne Camera, Longlegs' only known survivor

 

***SPOILER ALERT***

Satan, My Daughter, and a Porcelain Doll Ban

After my last disappointment with a Nic Cage flick, I decided to dive right back in with Longlegs, and I'm glad I did. This movie grabs you by the throat from the very first scene. It masterfully teases us, showing only Cage's legs as he creeps out a little girl before a smash-cut to the title sequence gives us a one-second glimpse of his weird-ass face. That flash of a memory is designed to haunt you, and it f*cking works, sticking with you as the FBI investigates a series of brutal family murders stretching from the 70s to the 90s. So yeah, this is a serial killer movie that gets down with the supernatural. Satanic sh*t, my absolute favorite. I even loved the little detail of the credit roll being satanically inverted. But one thing genuinely freaked me out: my own daughter was born on the 14th of a month 😐. I got a little curious about the meaning of the date 14, and the answer is right there in the movie: it connects to Revelation 13:1. This is the verse that shows up in the killer's ciphers and is quoted by both Longlegs and Ruth before they die: "And I saw a beast rise out of the sea..." The sum of the chapter and verse numbers, 13 + 1, equals 14, directly tying all the ritualistic murders to the biblical scripture of the Antichrist. So yeah, no human-sized porcelain dolls allowed in this house ever.

Watch the chilling opening scene below and decide if you're brave enough for the rest.

A Masterclass in Making You Sh*t Your Pants

Beneath the occult horror, Longlegs is a twisted fairy tale about how parents lie to protect their kids. Director Osgood Perkins, son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins, is clearly working through some stuff about inherited darkness, and he puts it all on screen. What he delivers is a masterclass in building and sustaining unbearable tension, and not in a cheap way. He and cinematographer Andrés Arochi use wide lenses, slow, creeping zooms, and long static shots that had me scanning every inch of the frame, just waiting for something terrible to happen. That one shot where Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) is just talking to her mom on the phone was incredibly intense, even though nothing was going on. The sound design is a huge part of it too, creating this oppressive, tactile world where every whisper and creak feels like a threat.

See for yourself how Perkins builds tension from nothing in the clip below... or did I lie? (muahaha 😈)

Crafting Longlegs

The chilling success of Longlegs is inseparable from the instantly iconic and deeply unsettling performance of Nicolas Cage as the titular villain. The production itself seemed to recognize the unique power of Cage's transformation, mythologizing his performance and treating him less as an actor playing a role and more as a genuine, unpredictable force of nature. Nicolas Cage's involvement in Longlegs went beyond that of a lead actor. He also served as a producer on the film through his production company, Saturn Films, indicating a significant creative investment in the project from its early stages.

Cage has been remarkably open about the personal wellspring from which he drew his performance. He has repeatedly stated that his portrayal of Longlegs was deeply inspired by his mother, Joy Vogelsang, who lived with severe mental health conditions, including schizophrenia, for much of her life. He explained that he used his childhood memories of trying to cope with her unpredictable behavior to find "a bit of empathy for the character".

The Physical Transformation

The physical transformation of Cage into Longlegs was a collaborative process designed to create a being that felt both pathetic and terrifying.

The Voice: The character's distinct, high-pitched, androgynous voice was a key element developed early on. Cage famously called director Osgood Perkins at four in the morning on Christmas Day to rehearse dialogue. They discussed incorporating a "feminine aspect" to make the voice the "opposite of being aggressive," creating a disarming and deeply unsettling vocal quality.

The Look: The visual design of the character evolved from multiple inspirations. The initial idea for the pale, white makeup came from Bob Dylan's look during his Rolling Thunder Revue tour in the 1970s, which Perkins saw as being simultaneously performative and concealing. This concept was then fused with the idea that Longlegs has subjected himself to a series of botched plastic surgeries. According to special effects makeup artist Harlow MacFarlane, the motivation behind this self-mutilation is a kind of perverse vanity: "He's in love with the Devil, and he's trying to impress the Devil, so he's gone through all these plastic surgery botch jobs to make himself look as pretty as he can". This detail adds a layer of pathetic desperation to his evil, suggesting a character who is not only a prophet of darkness but also a sad, ruined figure seeking approval from his demonic master.

Nicolas Cage's haunting transformation into Longlegs required extensive makeup and a complete physical metamorphosis.

On-Set Presence: The Lion in the Cage

The production team strategically cultivated an aura of menace around Cage's on-set presence, blurring the line between the actor and the character.

The Interrogation Scene: The film's centerpiece, the interrogation of Longlegs, was filmed in a single, unedited take that lasted for approximately 25 minutes. Perkins described the atmosphere in the room as "captivated" and "petrified," as the crew witnessed the full, unfiltered intensity of Cage's performance.

Separation from Co-Star: To ensure a genuine reaction of terror, lead actress Maika Monroe was deliberately kept away from Cage on set until the moment they filmed their first scene together. When she finally saw him in full costume and character, her raw fear was palpable. A microphone monitoring her vitals captured her heart rate more than doubling, spiking from 76 to 170 beats per minute—a detail that became a key part of the film's marketing.

Perkins has often used the analogy of a "lion tamer" to describe the experience of directing Cage in this role. He emphasized that with an actor of such power and energy, his job was not to command but to guide, reminding the "lion... not to f*cking eat me". This approach, combined with the on-set strategies and the brilliant marketing campaign that obscured Cage's face in early trailers, effectively built a mythos around the performance, making the audience feel that they, like Monroe, were about to witness something genuinely dangerous and uncontrolled.

Final Thoughts

To wrap it up: Longlegs is a film that will divide people. Some calling it a modern horror classic while others seeing only empty style. For me, it's a tense and beautifully shot film, but its ending felt abrupt and unsatisfying, leaving my curiosity hanging rather than resolved.

You can watch the interrogation scene below: Witness Cage's raw, unedited power in action.

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