Longlegs (2024)
🎥 Longlegs is another horror-thriller released in 2024 in an effort to provide psychological horror-thriller with some supernatural twist, but it fails to provide a horror experience that is worth remembering. Although the film was directed by Osgood Perkins and has a good idea and Alia Shawkat as a protagonist, the film has many problems like a bad structure and slow pace which prevent the film to be a good film.
The plot focuses on FBI Agent Lee Harker played by Maika Monroe who is sent to solve a series of murders that appear to be linked by an evil entity. Longlegs is a sinister character for whom Harker has discovered several victims of murder are connected to as she continues investigating the case. The genre that the film incorporates is half crime investigation and half supernatural horror and the director’s goal is to make it as suspenseful and unnerving as possible.
Australian actress Maika Monroe does a reasonable job as the resolute but progressively troubled Harker. Rogue brings a sort of realism and rawness to the Harker character and is believable as she energizes the obsession Harker has with the Count. Of them all, Monroe intensively saved the screen portraying the film’s impossible dreams and the realistic, depth-laden true-life feel.
Nevertheless, in *Longlegs*, Monroe gave us a rather vigorous characterization, but unfortunately, the narrative seems to be quite sluggish and unsturdy at some point. As usual with this kind of films it is very slow and full of explanations and building up for a scene or event that does not deliver on the promise. Depending on what part of Longlegs is being focus on, the uniqueness is appealing at first but then becomes confusing as the story progresses. The supernatural components of the storyline, although eerie in principle, are not exploited to their best potentiality; the audience is left highly ambiguous. It is a shame that this aspect did not translate to horror successfully as this muddied its reception than bring the suspense.
As a work of art, *Longlegs* has its strengths; and one of these has to do with the visual aspects of the production. In this case, Perkins also does an excellent job of making shadows and lights and what is hidden behind them all quite oppressive and ominous looking. Visually, the film looks great – it is dusky and atmospheric, and certifiably psychological in its bleakness, however, these qualities are overshadowed by the inability of the script to sustain suspense. In terms of genuine horror, the film delivers the goods, but only in piecemeal and, therefore, unsustained fashion; moreover, the movie’s finale is perfunctory at best.
Another serious mistake by the authors of the film is the heavy use of clichés typical for the horror genre, which are presented without innovation. The story of vengeful spirit is something that we have seen in many films and *Longlegs* just doesn’t try to shift it up a gear enough. Thus, attempts at some measure of psychological horror are also greatly compromised or mitigated by these problems of pacing and plot focus.
All in all, *Longlegs* is a movie that had great scenery for a coming of age flick that is not all that adolescent. Oddly, it is filled with a couple nice suspense moments and a solid performance by its lead but it ends up being style over substance much of the time. Perhaps, the slow-burn style of horror might be appreciated by some people but for many, *Longlegs* will just be another title of forgettable horrors.
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