Longlegs review: "A little Nicolas Cage goes a long way in this deeply disconcerting experience"
Jul. 4, 2024An authentically scary dance with the devil that instantly places Perkins among modern horror’s classiest practitioners.
Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy.
A little Nicolas Cage goes a terrifyingly long way in writer/director Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, a serial-killer-procedural-slash-occult-delving creepfest that confidently echoes the likes ofThe Silence of the Lambsand David Fincher’sZodiacbefore spinning off wildly on its own diabolical axis.
Maika Monroe assumes the Jodie Foster role as Lee Harker, an introverted FBI newbie whose near-psychic intuition could be the key to ending a barbaric string of whole-family slaughters in ’90s Oregon. Cage, meanwhile, is the film’s titular Lecter: an unctuous predator with a frizzy mop, sing-song cadence and puffy prosthetics that make him weirdly resemble Celia Weston in Shyamalan’sThe Village.
Longlegs is released in UK cinemas and US theaters on July 12.
Neil Smith is a freelance film critic who has written for several publications, including Total Film. His bylines can be found at the BBC, Film 4 Independent, Uncut Magazine, SFX Magazine, Heat Magazine, Popcorn, and more.
There’s actually a Poltergeist reference hidden in Longlegs, but the director thinks he “f***ed it up”
Guillermo del Toro is full of praise for the year’s scariest horror movie, as he describes Nicolas Cage as an “evil Tiny Tim”
Henry Cavill breaks silence on Warhammer TV show and teases the amount of work that’s already been put into the project
