This time Art reviews Longlegs

Cage and Monroe’s performances lift a fairly pedestrian spook show. I also thought there were some nice musical touches. 

Now let’s get to what I really liked. The costumes and cinematography were top notch I thought. Story takes place in the early ‘90s (only known because of the Clinton photos in an FBI office).  A very muted color scheme feeds into how the main protagonist moves about in the world. Speaking of, Maika Monroe does a great job with a very difficult role. So, I don’t think it’s that great of a story and she’s not given a ton to work with, but she makes a meal of panic attacks and heavy breathing. The other main actor is Cage, nearly unrecognizable in both makeup and voice. You can still occasionally hear him in his more emotional lines but I was surprised.   Rounding it out was the mom, Alicia Witt. Not a lot of screen time but she is one of the most compelling characters. To say more delves into spoilers which I am studiously avoiding.

That said, and if you got this far you don’t probably care, let us get to brass tacks: this is a satan worship story in the end. I’m not a target audience for that. Also, I wasn’t a huge fan of how the movie dealt with the flashback sequences because I found them very arbitrarily placed. 

In the end I was disappointed it turned out to be a devil made me do it. To me if you’re going to do that go whole hog from the get go. Waiting to the end and making that a reveal is not a twist. It’s like having the eagles come in LOTR. No real buildup but it’s a convenient way to settle the matter.  As I said I didn’t think the story was any great shakes and I suspect it might have two or three different scripts mushed into one. 

So the question is: did I find it worth it to watch?  Yeah, absolutely. It was good stuff, well acted and handsomely presented. Horror is a tough movie to do well, so I always give a lot of credit. But even within that curve I’d place Longlegs as above average.