Holly Atkinson

The film is a technical masterpiece. The cinematography, the sound production, the acting…all of it is pretty much flawless. It was also suitably atmospheric and creepy, really good at the slow burn kind of dread. That said, it was still a letdown, and for two unfortunate reasons. The first being that while Nic Cage performed the role to perfection, he was still distracting as hell for the sin of being Nic Cage. No matter how creepy or unsettling he was, I couldn’t stop seeing Nic Cage acting like Nic Cage, and that completely broke the world immersion. It truly is a pity but the natural consequence of a career of unhinged performances. When an actor becomes a parody of themselves, it’s really hard to take them seriously, even when you want to. Even when the story demands it. Even when they are giving a performance like this. The second letdown is a sloppy story. I’m not talking about what a lot of the other negative reviews here have mentioned—I enjoyed the framework of the story and its conclusion. I don’t care about blood or jump scares; atmosphere and low simmering dread are infinitely more compelling as they rely on worldbuilding and not cheap gimmicks, so this film gets full marks for that. But there were just so many logical leaps that were hard to swallow…such to the point that the technical perfection of the movie feels, in itself, like a gimmick so that the story sins would be overlooked. In the real world, the Zodiac killer’s first cipher was busted in a couple of days by a couple who were particularly adept at crossword puzzles, but it took Lee corresponding symbols to letters (which is like How to Make Coded Language 101) for any of Longlegs’ ciphers to be broken after two decades? Her supervisor insisting that she meet his family is not only lifted almost verbatim from the first season of True Detective, but serves only to establish that his daughter has an upcoming birthday and despite the fact that the birthday is on the 14th and Lee warns that another murder cycle will happen on the 13th, no one ever thinks to mention this? This is his job, and he just completely overlooks that his family fits the pattern that he himself explained to Lee. He dismisses that there was an accomplice right before Lee predicts another kill cycle out of frustration and what, being bad at his job? I cannot believe this person is in law enforcement. Also, Longlegs popping up in Lee’s periphery the second she’s brought into the case is, I suppose, supposed to be indicative of a symbiotic psychic relationship, but if that is the intent, it’s underwhelming and lazy. Ultimately, the film relied too heavily on coincidence, illogically good timing, and characters being unreasonably inept in order to tell the story. All the focus was on making this movie look and feel like a masterpiece at the sacrifice of competent storytelling. It wouldn’t have taken much to close the gaps without changing a thing plot-wise, and that lack of attention to the basic element of filmmaking made this much more disappointing than it should have been. That said, people less concerned about competent storytelling will be pleased because everything else is chef’s kiss perfect. But for people for whom story is important, be prepared to be disappointed.