Rent Longlegs (2024)

Hail Satan - Longlegs review by HW

Sometimes I need to stop listening to the internet. I had doubts about the new ‘Nosferatu’ film because of online negativity and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was uncertain about this one, as it was described as a weak rip-off of ‘Silence of the Lambs’. Yes, it is about a young FBI agent hunting down a really creepy serial killer in the 90s who’s good at sewing. However, I feel this setup is a trick to mess with the audience’s expectations. Because say what you like about this movie, it’s unpredictable. Enjoy it for the weirdness (helped by everything nearly being shot with a fish-eye lens) the exaggerations, the sinister atmosphere. Also it’s genuinely unsettling, even frightening. Partly because of the use of jarring editing and music but also Nicholas Cage’s absolutely unhinged performance, which disturbs you from the opening scene. You know an actor’s doing right in a horror when you want them to keep the hell away from you. 

So no, maybe it doesn’t always make sense. Yes, it’s weird. But maybe if you stop being critical, you’ll just enjoy it (even while you feel steadily more traumatised as you watch) and start to think there might be hope for the horror genre yet. 

Absolute rubbish - Longlegs review by CS

Sat through 1 hour of this movie and no better off knowing what is going on. Too dark & complicated for my brain to comprehend.

Worse disc I've ever watched.

Cage is sensational but Monroe is miscast & this film is never anything more than good for me - Longlegs review by Timmy B

The Silence of the Lambs is not only one of my top ten films, for me it is genuinely one of the best films ever made, no question. At the time it was released, it sent shockwaves through audiences, many of whom probably were not particularly drawn to horror but found themselves totally immersed in Jonathan Demme's masterpiece. Since then, it has spawned countless imitations & influenced untold numbers of other works, be it film or TV.

And Longlegs unquestionably not only owes most of its look & feel to it, but also tries to ramp up the occult element which was only hinted at in Lambs. However, despite it's clear reverence for its source material, it is never more than good for me, despite a wonderfully idiosyncratic & creepy turn by Nicolas Cage.

Lee Harker is a newly recruited FBI agent based in Oregon who, whilst carrying out door-knocking duties as part of an investigation, predicts/has visions which turn out to be right, with horrific consequences. Her ability to tap into these paranormal visions quickly sees her promoted to the case which been baffling law enforcement for years: a series of brutal murders which somehow involve an individual called Longlegs. Harker begins to crack the case, whilst at the same time dealing with her own personal demons.

Whilst I have only given this film 3 stars, there is a lot of good stuff here, as well as an incredible Cage performance. And make no mistake, this is not the standard Cage performance you have seen a variation of in countless films, some great, some dreadful. Transformed by incredible prosthetics & make-up, Cage is an abomination, a creature spat out of Hell itself. Whenever he is on screen, the film soars, whether it is his creepy introduction or the skin-crawlingly unsettling interrogation between him and Harker.

Monroe fairs less well, Harker being someone who I never really rooted that much for. Whilst Monroe strains every sinew to make us believe her character as well as draw us into the story, she is just too cold & uninteresting to care much for. There are a few scenes where she breaks down but, unlike when Starling does this in Lambs & your heart breaks for the incredible young woman battling to catch the killer, I felt very little for Harker. Her performance has no warmth or anything really relatable.

But alongside Cage, there are some good elements. Blair Underwood is absolutely sensational as Harker's superior, a hard-bitten detective who gets some of the best lines & never strays into cliché, as much as I really wanted him to spit out a line such as "I'm too old for this s**t!" The look of the film is also extremely haunting, whether it is a snow-covered house isolated in the middle of nowhere, or a police station filled with a warren of tunnels. The 90's mise-en-scene is also done perfectly.

But I cannot lie, I so wanted Longlegs to be better than it was. There were a lot of the right ingredients in there, plus it also mercifully was not too long, but it just didn't fully click for me. However, I did enjoy being in that world and Cage alone is worth the entrance fee.

OK film - Longlegs review by LC

Was an OK film but very slow had to skip some parts of it as found I was falling asleep not something I would watch again