Review: "Longlegs"

 

I ventured out to see "Longlegs" with my son who has been a lifelong horror fan. I didn't know what to expect as I heard that Nicholas Cage was the bad guy and I, ahem, haven't thought of him as award-winning in any sense. 

This movie, however, made me realize Nick Cage didn't have his genre before. I truly believe he should be up for an award for this one. He was so chilling and eerily comfortable in this maniac role. I didn't even recognize him. 

I have to say, as a screenwriter, I'm not a fan of Woke Culture for the purpose of political agenda and inclusivity. More often than not it is forcing you to carry an agenda and that has a cascading effect on the artist's vehicle. It's rather like handing an oil painter a lump of clay and saying, "this is your medium now!" 

I find Hollywood's demanded inclusivity is often actually discriminatory to the very people they want to represent. For example, Disney changing lead characters to create diversity takes away from the European writers who designed within their culture sometimes centuries ago. It was their story. Their legends. Their culture. Disney doesn't have to utilize these (except they have no fresh material). 

It would be much more beneficial to do as was done in movies like "Moana" where there are identifying roles, culture, religion, talents, and strengths of that race. This is what builds confidence, to see yourself in that role on the screen with identifying characters, situations, and culture.  It also educates everyone else in the preciousness of all cultures, their strengths, and their determination. 

In the example of horror, "Silence of the Lambs" had an androgenous killer, and so does this one. Apparently, they think that's appropriate casting which makes Hollywood types two-faced in their agendas. They are saying essentially that gender confused people are psychotic and broken people. I'm a logical conservative, and I can see this. 

Although the evil character was exceptionally played, he wasn't outdone by Maika Monroe. This is a lead character that is obviously troubled, barely speaks, and keeps her secrets to herself. It's not easy to make this kind of lead likeable. I mean, we do need to empathize. At the same time, she's so freaky that you wonder if you're following the bad guy around and that's the twist. (I will offer no spoilers in this regard)

I will also say that, besides the acting, the art direction/mood/settings/camera angles, as well as eclectic music, all took me into that world to where I can nearly smell it and feel it. Very nicely done. 

I kept thinking to myself what a great RPG game this could make to play on a game system. I just wanted to explore the sets!

It takes place from the early 70s at the start but then jumps right into the 90s and captured that time well. You could tell it wasn't the bright shiny, cellphone-using, cities of today. It was dismal, gray, Seattle weather, with bleak old farmhouses and the like. It took me back to the Green River serial killer era. 

Now, I have to make an assault on some of the issues I have with the plotting of this film. There were elements that seemed almost magical, but when introduced fell flat. I'd rather not know the mechanics of it and the main character gives us a voiceover reenactment to tell us what's behind the killer. Some viewers might like this info dump/author intrusion, but I found it a cheap technique. So much of the plot was disjointed from the lead character being psychic - Why? How? To the purpose of the killings. Simply put - blame it on Satan? 

I feel sort of like a civilian handed the Zodiac Killer's notes and told I'd be tested on it later.

There are some incredibly graphic moments and I do admit, I'm not a fan of outright gore, so my eyes closed for a moment, though I could hear the sound of killing.

This plot does not move quickly. It's like a constant stalking that acts like the most lazy visual foreplay that will not lead to a climax, but might wear you down. 

I guess if I had to give it my autumn leaf rating of 1-5, I'd give this one 3 leaves.

🍁🍁🍁

It gets this rating for acting, tension, and art direction. If you like seeing horror on the big screen, this one definitely takes you inside so that you forget you're in a theater. When it goes streaming/blu ray, definitely a good one for a dark and stormy night.