Last year the cinematic phenomenon of Barbieheimer was born, a spontaneous word of mouth marketing campaign that saw both films achieve unbelievable box office results. Longlegs has to take the award for best viral movie marketing this year from a recording of Cage’s co-stars heartbeat accelerating when seeing him in his serial killer getup for the first time to the cryptic ciphers teasing throughout the build up to the release. In the cinephile world, Longlegs comes with a lot of hype. And while Oppenheimer and Barbie lived up to that kinda hype last year, Longlegs doesn’t quite pull it off. While inventive in its execution with terrifyingly constructed cinematography, Longlegs just doesn’t land the finale which sadly is more obvious than it is petrifying. 

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FBI Agent Lee Harker is assigned to an unsolved serial killer case that takes unexpected turns, revealing evidence of the occult. Harker discovers a personal connection to the killer and must stop him before he strikes again. 

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You’ve gotta hand it to Longlegs: the story is as creepy as they come. Director Oz Perkins builds on this throughout, perfectly creating a sense of unease, a question in the audience's hearts and minds of what might be behind that corner or closed door. This is set from the very first sequence we encounter Agent Harker which holds within the scene an instance of shocking violence as she seeks out a suspect. And from this, a sense of unease continues to take hold and to grow. 

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But when it comes to these kinds of horrors, that have touchstones to everything from The Silence of the Lambs to Zodiac, while having a point of difference to the other films in that genre, you’ve really got to land the ending. 

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While I didn’t get it as quickly as I discovered the ‘twist’ in The Prestige all those years ago, where Longlegs was heading was pretty obvious. And it’s not just that I guessed the ending, but it’s that the conclusion, in my mind, undoes all of the violent, creepiness of the rest of the runtime. 

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While inventive in its execution with terrifyingly constructed cinematography, Longlegs just doesn’t land the finale which sadly is more obvious than it is petrifying.