Warning: This article contains spoilers for Longlegs.
The movie that will surely be the subject of your next nightmare is Longlegs, a horror thriller from writer-director Osgood Perkins. In 1990s Oregon, FBI Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) has a psychic-like ability to track serial killers. Her next assignment is to find the serial killer Longlegs (Nicolas Cage).
For nearly two decades, Longlegs has been tied to horrific crimes where fathers murder their families before killing themselves. Strangely enough, Longlegs has never been spotted at the crime scene. The only evidence the authorities have is a series of cryptic letters featuring satanic codes signed by Longlegs.
During Lee’s investigation, she makes a key connection between the families. Every daughter in each family has a birthday on the 14th day of any given month. The 14th of the month is coming up, and Lee believes Longlegs will kill again. Who will be the serial killer’s next target? With the 14th rapidly approaching, Lee makes a startling discovery: She knows Longlegs.
Lee’s interrogation of Longlegs
In the opening scene, a young girl encounters Longlegs outside her home. The young girl is Lee. For some reason, she couldn’t remember that encounter. Once she does, the FBI tracks down Longlegs and arrests him outside a bus stop. In a harrowing interrogation scene, Lee learns that Longlegs builds lifelike dolls resembling each child and delivers them to their homes on their birthdays.
There is a metal orb inside each doll. This is how Longlegs, who is more Devil-like than human, possesses each father to makes them murder their family and kill themselves afterward. Studying Longlegs’s pattern, Lee knows that Longlegs still has one more kill left. How can Longlegs initiate the final murder while in custody? Lee infers that Longlegs has an accomplice. Before he reveals the answer, Longlegs kills himself by repeatedly smashing his head against the desk. This scene was also Monroe’s first time seeing Cage in full makeup.
The accomplice reveal
After Longlegs commits suicide, Lee and Agent Browning (Michelle Choi-Lee) travel to the house of Ruth Harker (Alicia Witt) for questioning. Ruth is Lee’s super-religious and heavily medicated mother. At her mother’s home, Lee finally realizes that Ruth is Longlegs’ accomplice. The film then shows a flashback of Ruth meeting Longlegs for the first time at the beginning of the film. Longlegs has every intention of killing Ruth and Lee. Ruth begs Longlegs to spare Lee, which he does if she agrees to help him with the killings.
Working as Longlegs’ accomplice, Ruth poses as a nun and brings the dolls to each family’s house with a letter saying they won a contest. Longlegs makes the dolls in Ruth’s basement, meaning he lived under Lee’s feet throughout her childhood. When Lee heads inside, Ruth sneaks behind the car and shoots Agent Browning. Lee runs outside and confronts her mother, who is pointing a gun at the doll that resembles Lee. Ruth shoots the doll, which causes Lee to collapse. After waking up in Longlegs’ basement bed, Lee knows who the last birthday belongs to, so she gets in the car and drives off.
How does Longlegs end?
Earlier in the movie, Lee goes to the house of Agent Carter (Blair Underwood) and meets his wife (Carmel Amit) and young daughter, Ruby (Ava Kelders). While sitting in the bedroom, Ruby invites Lee to her birthday party. In the present day, Lee knows Ruby is Longlegs’ final target and speeds to Carter’s house. Upon arrival, Lee sees her mother sitting in the living room across from a doll that resembles Ruby. A possessed Carter brings his wife into the kitchen and kills her.
Lee begs her mother to call off the possession, but Ruth refuses and allows the murder to happen. After murdering his wife, a bloody Carter walks back into the living room to kill his daughter. However, Lee intervenes and shoots Carter to death. After Ruth moves toward Ruby, Lee kills her mother. Following this traumatic experience, Lee coldly stares at the doll. When she tries to shoot it, her gun clicks empty. Lee ponders if the Devil is still present as the film ends. Is Longlegs the scariest movie of 2024? Probably not. However, it’s an effective thriller with a compelling premise and two standout performances from Monroe and Cage.
Longlegs is now in theaters.
