Sabihur Rahman

The villains' hall of fame, decorated with luminaries like Joker, Pennywise and Hannibal, has a smashing new entry. The year is 1995. A psychic FBI young female cop, Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), is on the trail of a killer who has managed to influence fathers of families with daughters born on the 14th of a month to butcher their entire families on the 9th birthday of the daughters before killing themselves. This cycle of unsolved gruesome family murders has been in motion for 2 decades perpetuated by a mysterious being who signs off as #Longlegs. Teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown, Harker follows the clues which lead her closer to the genesis of the mayhem till she finds herself faced with a stunning truth that brings her suppressed childhood memories gushing back and threatening to rob her of the final vestiges of her sanity. Nicolas Cage stars as the mortifying Longlegs, making the viewers suck in their breaths everytime the camers zooms in on his satanic visage. Caught in the web of B-grade productions post his bankruptcy, Cage has now produced this haunting horror tale of occult and suspense. Longlegs is a fine "mood movie", with the camerawork, art direction and soundtrack first establishing the grim mood with a slow burn and then escalating the terror in the final act. Move over monsters. Longlegs and Mr. Downstairs are here to scare. The movie is currently playing in cinemas.

Overriding thought: Kyun banayi yeh movie?

Smooth killer. Great performances. Taut writing.

Quite underwhleming and "thanda". Delhi through the designer lens of SoBo.