Ticy Movie Review: Longlegs East (Technical) meets West (Story)
What makes a horror movie truly terrifying? Is it the atmosphere, the skillful cinematography, the right amount of frightful tricks, or the actors’ ability to fully grasp the story’s context? While all of these are important, what really elevates a horror film is its ability to toy with its audience, keeping them on edge from the opening scene to the final fade-out.
Longlegs is a film that masters discomfort, creating an unsettling atmosphere full of ambiguity and mystery where logic and reason seem to have no place. Achieving this isn’t easy, yet Japanese horror films have long excelled at creating a sense of otherness and playing with viewers’ emotions. It’s this very mastery that makes Longlegs, a Western horror film employing Eastern techniques, so powerfully eerie. The director uses these techniques with such skill that the result is a haunting experience, unlike anything seen in recent memory.
From the very first scene, it’s clear that this film draws heavily from Japanese horror (think Kiyoshi Kurosawa or Takashi Shimizu). The atmosphere, camera work, use of sound, and even the editing all feel distinctly Eastern, making this a Western horror film with a distinctly Eastern touch.
But this isn’t just a simple case of borrowing tricks. Osgood ‘Oz’ Perkins proves over the film’s 100 minutes that he’s a director with a sharp creative vision, expertly wielding every tool at his disposal. The result is a visually stunning film, with carefully composed still shots, long takes, and sound design that cleverly misdirects the audience, all contributing to a thick cloud of ambiguity that keeps you constantly on edge. This sense of unease follows the main character, played by Maika Monroe, as she navigates a terrifying world dominated by the psychopathic killer ‘Longlegs,’ portrayed in a career-defining performance by Nicolas Cage.
Cage, in particular, delivers a performance so chilling and far removed from his usual roles that, if not for a few moments where his signature style slips through, you might think this is one of the best performances he’s delivered in years.
The film does have moments that might leave you scratching your head, with certain elements left unexplained. Personally, I think these moments add to the film’s sense of mystery and unease—minor details that don’t disrupt the main narrative structure, reminiscent of the films that inspired it, like Cure, Kairo, or the first two Ju-On movies.
However, the film stumbles in its final third when it suddenly decides to explain everything in a straightforward, conventional manner, unraveling the carefully constructed ambiguity and leading to a flat and anticlimactic conclusion.
It’s as if the director, halfway through, decided, “Let’s not confuse the audience any further; let’s just explain everything.” While there’s nothing wrong with wanting to provide clarity, it should have been done with confidence in the story built up so far, rather than abandoning it and leaving the audience feeling unsatisfied.
If you were to dissect the story at its core, you’d find a simple, even clichéd narrative, one that’s been propped up all along by its technical execution and storytelling. Discarding these elements wasn’t the smartest move.
That said, Longlegs still delivers as a whole. It’s a film with meticulous visuals, a distinct style, and a narrative that unfolds through showing rather than telling. Its horror is a slow burn, one that creeps up on you, building steadily in the fog of uncertainty and doubt, with each element perfectly balanced, neither too much nor too little.
Once again, Oz Perkins deserves praise for creating a powerful and striking homage to Eastern horror cinema.
