LONGLEGS: Good...Almost Great

LONGLEGS (Blu-ray)

2024 / 101 min

FROM NEON/DECAL RELEASING

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

My daughter and I are big horror fans, especially those which offer something more unique and challenging than your typical high-concept Blumhouse film. So it was with some anticipation that we checked out Longlegs in theaters this past summer. The moody, disturbing trailer made it look right up our alley.

We left the theater a few hours later, not quite sure what to think. Disappointment is too strong a word, since we both enjoyed the dark tone and beautifully bleak aesthetic, both which certainly suited the story. We also appreciated the deliberate pace and effective performances, especially Maika Monroe as protagonist Lee Harker, a young FBI agent with a talent which suggests a little psychic ability.

While we both agreed Longlegs was a good film, we were oh-so-slightly underwhelmed. But what exactly were we expecting it to be? Something more? Something less? Or was it one of those films that gets better upon repeated viewings? Well, we got that chance for this review.

Longlegs is about an ongoing FBI investigation into a series of brutal murders that have been committed over the years, all involving families. Their primary suspect is mysterious man who calls himself “Longlegs” (Nicholas Cage), yet he’s not actually present for these killings. The only thing these families have in common is that the daughters in each one share the same birthday.

Lead investigator Agent Carter (Blair Underwood) recruits Harker to study the evidence. She quickly decodes Longlegs’ cryptic messages and finds further clues, including some related to Satanism. Longlegs also seems to be aware of Harker herself, who not only begins to believe he’s a literal monster, but she and her eccentric mother (Alicia Witt) are somehow connected with his actions.

When you hate what's on TV but can't find the remote.

Refreshingly, much of the story is told through Harker’s investigation and several hallucinatory sequences, which could either be interpreted as supernatural or products of her imagination. If nothing else, the film is filled with truly haunting imagery, imaginatively captured by writer/director Osgood Perkins (this is arguably his best film). 

But upon second viewing, I think I’m able to determine why Longlegs isn’t entirely successful. Despite a cavalcade of unnerving imagery and unexpected plot turns, these elements sometimes feel forced into the story, and not always seamlessly. For example, the point when Longlegs’ dolls become key to the narrative seems to belong in another movie…and to be honest, is somewhat derivative. Speaking of which, the film occasionally wears its influences almost too proudly. More-than-a-few moments - and characters - draw obvious inspiration from such classics as The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en (albeit with supernatural overtones).

As for Nicholas Cage…with the unique quirkiness he brings to most of his roles, casting him as a demonic serial killer should be a slam dunk. However, he’s not in the film nearly as much as the promotional campaign suggests, and despite a couple of scenes where he does let loose, he’s buried under so much prosthetic make-up that Longlegs could have been played by anybody capable of screaming.

But I did enjoy Longlegs more with a second viewing, catching certain visuals and subtleties that escaped me the first time. I also have a greater appreciation for the overall look of the film, which certainly enhances its grim, ominous tone. While the whole ultimately doesn’t equal the sum of its parts (or its influences), it is a good horror film…almost a great one.

EXTRA KIBBLES

INTERVIEWS - Individual promotional interviews featuring director Osgood Perkins, actors Blair Underwood, Maike Monroe & Alicia Witt.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By writer/director Osgood Perkins.

"THE CLUES" - A few half-minute segments from the film related to the narrative puzzle. Weird but superfluous.

“EVIDENCE” - I far as I’ve been able to figure out, this is just a single still of the farmhouse where some of the movie takes place. 

3 TRAILERS - Including a really strange one subtitled “Dirty/Sweet.”

Revisiting BRINGING OUT THE DEAD in 4K

BRINGING OUT THE DEAD (4K UHD)

1999 / 121 min

FROM PARAMOUNT

Review by Princess Pepper😺

That bastion of accuracy, Wikipedia, currently defines Bringing Out the Dead as a “supernatural horror drama film.” Of course, anything you read on that website should be taken with a grain of salt, but in revisiting the film for the first time since 1999, I have to concede it does sometimes have a horror aesthetic. Or more accurately, the entire thing unfolds like some kind of nightmarish fever dream.

Still, Wikipedia may want to reconsider their policy of allowing anybody to edit the site.

As for the movie itself…we here at Free Kittens hold director Martin Scorsese in the highest regard. Not everything he’s made has been great, but with the possible except of New York, New York, they’ve all been worth seeing. 1999’s Bringing Out the Dead remains one of his less-heralded efforts - for good reason - though it does have its share of admirers, who’ll certainly like this 25th Anniversary 4K edition, #47 in the Paramount Presents series.

But while Bringing Out the Dead doesn’t rank among Scorsese’s greatest pictures, it arguably features one of Nicholas Cage’s greatest performances. As burnt-out, tormented paramedic Frank Pierce, he perfectly conveys the character’s weariness, depression, cynicism and, most significantly, perpetual guilt over failing to save a young girl’s life months before…a tragedy that haunts him every night. Displaying just the right measures of desperation and vulnerability, this is Cage at his most dynamic. 

"Nice shot, Frank! Fifty points!"

Elsewhere, the setting, dark tone and episodic nature of the film reminds me a little of Taxi Driver, minus the terrifying protagonist. But unlike that classic, this one is populated by too many broadly-drawn secondary characters, compounded by some overwrought performances (especially those of Ving Rhames and Tom Sizemore). Maybe that’s intentional in order to convey the black comedy elements of Paul Schrader’s screenplay, but it’s sometimes handled with the subtly of a mallet. 

Still, we’ll take second-tier Scorsese over most other directors’ magnum opuses any damn day of the week, and though it’s a bit overlong, Bringing Out the Dead remains a gritty, engaging and occasionally haunting film with some stunning moments (both creatively and technically). Like other recent Paramount Presents releases, it boasts an excellent 4K transfer and includes a great batch of new bonus features, along with some carried over from previous versions.

Just don’t call it a horror movie.

EXTRA KIBBLES

4K, BLU-RAY & DIGITAL COPIES

NEW FEATURETTES - Filmmaker Focus features director Martin Scorsese, who is always worth listening to; A Rumination on Salvation is a new interview with Nicholas Cage; Cemetery Streets is a new interview with screenwriter Paul Schrader; City of Ghosts is a new interview with cinematographer Robert Richardson.

ON SET - Individual archival interviews with actors Patricia Arquette, Ving Rhames John Goodman, MarcAnthony and Tom Sizemore.