Longlegs

The seventh she to be given the same choice they've all been given. Crimson, or clover. Accept the gift and destroy, destroy yourself and yourselves. Or keep it. And bow down. Bow all the way down. And get right down to the dirty, dirty work. Work that gets dirty as it cleans. Like a mop. Like a rag.Osgood, you're the fucking man. This shit is so unsettling. I never get scared at horror movies, so I didn’t with this one but my friend that was with me almost dropped the popcorn bucket in me. I can’t wait to fucking rewatch this. He knows what scares people—making them believe there is something to fear, and maybe there is, maybe there isn’t. I said it before, and I’ll say it again: the biggest fear a human being has ever experienced is uncertainty and not knowing. This film is hopeless, and you can feel it since that fuck-ass opening scene. He gives us glimpses of what will happen when it ends. Those things are more important than those long takes. Those little red glimpses show us the pit Harker is eventually going to fall into. You can’t look at a picture for too long, or you will think something is there. This was proven by Skinamarink, and if you don’t believe me, go to a mirror and stare into your own eyes for as long as you can. The movie is hard to not believe something is there. Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t. Just try not to look too long, or you will eventually go mad trying to figure out what is there and what you imagined. I’ve seen some people compare this to Silence of the Lambs and Zodiac. I’ve never watched those, but yeah, it is a political thriller about finding a serial killer. But as the movie develops, more religious tones start to unravel slowly but surely. Not gonna lie, I laughed at Nicolas Cage’s face, but he still gave, in my opinion, an Oscar-worthy performance in this. He is great in movies, but I’ve never seen him like this before. He was fully committed to this role and mastered it perfectly. You can barely tell he is that person, and I love his design and how he did so many plastic surgeries to "be pretty for the devil," and him slowly unleashing his madness and insanity. That interrogation scene might be one of my favorite scenes in horror ever. His performance was so impactful, you can’t deny that. The film was constructed to scare you, but not in a way that people think. It has some jump scares, and very effective ones at that, but the movie wants to get under your skin, increase your heartbeat, and make you pop some Xanax after this. It grabs your anxiety and increases it, only making this better in a theater. It’s a slow burn where a creature isn’t exactly shown, but its colorless palette, ambience, and camera work will show you that what you can’t see will hurt you. The third act will not live up to what you're expecting, and it could have if it added more, like 40 minutes, but what it shows is enough for me. It’s the journey that matters. For me, this movie is a triumph and an easy 5 stars when I rewatch this. It uses your imagination against you, making you imagine the worst in there. Alicia Witt is underappreciated in this; her quiet insanity is a great contrast to Nicolas Cage’s loud madness. You know something is wrong with her, but until it's revealed, you can never really tell why the fuck she is like that. When it's revealed (at least for me), it felt predictable, but I still was so fucking shocked because it makes so much sense. The clues were all there, so why didn’t I catch it? And Maika Monroe, whoosh… Maika, save me. She is phenomenal in this. She makes the audience feel the terrifying hunt and how it is eating her soul. You feel her fear, her anger, her confusion, and her troubles with a mother that just wanted her protection. This whole movie projects its fear really well to you, and I love that about it. The slow burn aspect just really added to making us feel and making it more immersive by showing us the time it took to find out all this and still show us how the clues were there all along. The movie is unsettling and also surprisingly gory. I love how it separates past and present so well and how it changes the aspect ratio. And man, its soundtrack that reminded me of The Witch or Under the Skin because they all have that slow build-up to it. I noticed this in the opening scene, how sound is always there but is subtle and unstable, just like Longlegs’ behavior, and then, just like him, it suddenly explodes into madness to a fuck-ass title card. The music in other scenes also was just there to increase tension but also to help show you how something is always there. The little voices in the soundtrack and shit, it's just so fucking cool. I love when all these little things in movies all work out so well together, like a team. Overall, this film is a triumph in horror, combining unsettling zooms, a colorless palette, and effective jump scares to build tension. Nicolas Cage delivers an Oscar-worthy performance, contrasting with Alicia Witt's quiet insanity. The slow burn increases anxiety and uses imagination to project fear. Despite a predictable twist, it masterfully immerses you in a terrifying journey and does so with a guy that looks like the finsl boss of botched.