Longlegs

As long as i can remember i have always been a fan of atmospheric horror movies. What do i mean by atmospheric? Films that manage to capture my attention because they don´t need lots of blood or flesh wounds to be good. With the right location, sound effects and a well crafted plot this can be much more effective than the traditional horror films. It doesn´t have to be a complicated plot either it´s mostly about how effective you use the right sounds and manage to capture fear in a realistic way. There are several titles we could discuss that belongs in the category of atmospheric horror films such as the 2018 horror film Hereditary ( well worth a watch ) but let´s talk about a completely different film that does not get mentioned often. And that is the 2019 psychological horror film The Lodge from directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. The Lodge was released by independent production company Neon and tells the story of Richard Hall ( Richard Armitage ) who´s wife Laura Hall ( Alicia Silverstone ) takes her own life after she finds out her husband plans to marry a woman named Grace Marshall ( Riley Keough ), a woman he met while researching a book about an extremist cult. Grace was the only survivor of the mass suicide, led by her father. Laura´s death devastates her and Richard´s children, teenage Aiden Hall ( Jaeden Martell ) and young Mia Hall ( Lia McHugh ). Six months later, Richard announces that they will spend Christmas with Grace at the family´s remote Massachussets lodge to get to know each other. What was supposed to be a lovely Christmas turns into a pure nightmare. The Lodge manage to combine religious cult horror and psychological horror very well crafted together. There are some scenes that are more creepy than i expected, where we find out about the past of this sadistic cult. I did review this film and gace it a very high rating and i still really enjoy The Lodge, not only because i love religious cult horror films but i also feel that this is a very well made film in several ways. I highly recommend this one no matter if you watch it on streaming or on physical media. Speaking of the distribution company Neon i finally got a chance to sit down to watch the horror film Longlegs that have both been praised by some critics and criticized by others in a more negative way. Since i am a fan of several releases from distribution company Neon, is the horror film Longlegs definetely worth a watch this Halloween or should you definetely skip this one and choose a classic horror film instead?

In the 1990´s, FBI agent Lee Harker ( Maika Monroe ) is assigned by her supervisor William Carter ( Blair Underwood ) to a case involving a series of murder-suicides in Oregon. Each case involves a father killing his family and himself, leaving behind a letter with Satanic coding signed "Longlegs" whose handwriting belongs to none of the family members. Lee discovers that each family had a nine-year-old born on the 14th of the month, the murders all occured within six days before or after the birthday itself, and the murders form an occult. One night Lee get an unknown visitor leaving her a birthday card from signed "Longlegs", that also includes Satanic coding as well. For each family they find murdered it´s becoming more difficult to deal with her work life and personal life, where Lee barely sleep anything. But she made a promise to solve this case no matter what it takes.

While watching Longlegs i noticed a very interesting detail. It felt like this film was inspired by the famous Zodiac serial killer that took place between the years 1968 - 1969. Especially with the coded letters that they find with every victim the killer used codes to communicate. This detail is just one of the interesting things i find fascinating with the film Longlegs but the other part that captured my interest is the atmospheric horror scenes during the investigation of these horrible murders. There is also a connection to religion in here as we find out that Satanists are connected to these ritual murders. The investigation itself is actually quite interesting especially between FBI agent Lee and her supervisor William. The acting from both actors Maika Monroe and Blair Underwood are both solid, where especially Blair really manage to capture the right personality for William who reminded me of the 1987 character agent Eliott Ness ( played by legendary actor Kevin Costner ) in the classic The Untouchables. One of the strongest acting performances comes from actor Nicolas Cage in this film as the very disturbing and odd character Dale Kobble, also known as Longlegs. At first i didn´t recognize him completely so they did a really good job with the make up effects on him. The horror scenes are pretty effective and even the brutal scenes that we do see at certain moments works well. I would also say that this film manage not to be too predictable and that is thanks to the character of Longlegs. Any issues i have with this film? I could probably find some smaller details if i digged deeper but in general i had a good time with Longlegs. It´s not the most original horror film i have seen but it is definetely better than some ordinary releases. Director Osgood Perkins directed the gothic supernatural horror film I Am Te Pretty Thing That Lives In The House released on Netflix, a film i did enjoy. I would say that Longlegs deliver more stronger horror scenes compared to that film so i am pleased he stepped it up and managed to surprise me. If you are a fan of atmospheric horror you should check Longlegs out, you might enjoy this film as well as i did.

Rating: DDD