Written & Directed by Osgood Perkins
You likely haven’t heard of Oz Perkins, as he’s a young up and coming director with only a few films under his belt to this point, and none with the profile of Longlegs, which is currently crushing it at the box office, with over $60M worldwide. However, you probably do know who his father is, Anthony Perkins, star of horror classic Psycho. Hollywood is a weird place, but there usually are not that many nepotism opportunities where the actor’s kid becomes a director, usually you just see actor to actor, or even director to actor, etc. But in this case, Perkins saw his knack for filmmaking and took the opportunity to work mostly within the genre that made his father famous, and now he’s making a name for himself as a bright horror director. But the tid bit about Perkins’ father is a mere footnote in what Oz’s career is shaping up to be, especially if Longlegs is any indication.
Lee Harker (Maika Monroe, who came to horror stardom from the surprise hit It Follows) is a sharp, young FBI special agent with a knack for following her instinct to incredible result. She gets picked by fellow agent Carter (Blair Underwood) to work on the Longlegs (Nicolas Cage) case, a serial killer who mysteriously convinces fathers to murder their whole families. As Harker digs deeper into the case, reviewing crime scenes and details over years of Longlegs murders, she builds a unique connection to the events, as we begin to realize that this isn’t necessarily just another serial killer case.
The entry point into this film is obviously Silence of the Lambs, and Perkins has said as much, but what Perkins does with that construction is something altogether different and interesting. It’s a smart play to hook the audience with an FBI/serial killer procedural. True crime has becomes such a popular genre that this story connects into that “fandom”, while also resurrecting the seemingly dormant fictional crime genre which has been surpassed by its true crime counterpart. And while we have some fun with Harker using her intelligence and instincts to make breaks in the case, about halfway through the film we realize there is something more to this story than just a standard crime procedural, and that Perkins is on to something much more than a conventional script.
The strength of the film lies with its ambition, as it strives for something more. Whether or not it gets there or not can be debatable in the end. I land more on the side of the third act not necessarily working completely, but I’m also in the camp that I loved that he tried. I’ve seen enough mediocre safe films in my lifetime to appreciate the ambitious failures more than the boring safe ones. And what really buoys the film is its technical achievement in filmmaking. Perkins has great camera sense and creates some really stark, memorable imagines. The sense of time, space and lighting is also really strong, creating the right amount of tension and mood throughout to make this a strong, thrilling horror entry.
Despite his burgeoning career, this is actually the first of his films I’ve seen, and I must say I am both impressed and excited about his future. I think with Longlegs he proves he has the talent behind the camera to craft a well made, thoughtful horror film. He also has shown he can work well with actors, getting good performances from both Cage as the disturbed, strange serial killer and Monroe, whose quite, reserved performance indicates something a little more going in behind the young, talented agent’s facade. Perkins already has two more films “in the can”, as they say, and the future is bright. But for know, I have to say that his latest film Longlegs is an easy recommend for fans of the genre, as it hits on some of the classic tropes, while avoiding the trap of being conventional. While flawed, this film is not one you will easily forget.
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