Osgood Perkins was a stage and film actor active in the 1920s and ’30s. Among his films were “Scarface” and “Madame DuBarry.” Before dying in a bathtub at 45, he sired one son, Anthony Perkins. Anthony also became an actor, famous for his performance as Norman Bates in the movie “Psycho” (someone died in the bath there, too), and despite his homosexuality, married and had children. One of those children was named after his grandfather, Osgood.
Writer/Director Osgood Perkins (“Gretel and Hansel”) has created a niche for himself in the world of horror films. Not surprising, considering his father’s paramount roles and the fact that his mother died in one of the September 11 planes.
In his latest outing, “Longlegs,” he takes us into the world of the serial killer. The eponymous killer is played by Nicholas Cage, whose falsetto voice and heavy makeup make him almost unrecognizable.
The story opens with a young girl looking out the window of her snowy farmhouse. She notices a strange station wagon parked near the house. Going out to investigate, she is confronted by an even stranger man in dirty white clothes who congratulates her on her birthday to come.
Fast-forward 30 years. We are in an FBI briefing room, with agents receiving instructions before being sent out to look for a criminal. Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) is one of them. She and her partner begin canvasing a neighborhood, until she has a premonition that the man they seek is located in a specific house. The doubting partner goes to investigate and is promptly killed. Lee follows up and arrests the killer.
Following this success, she is put on another case by her superior, Agent Carter (Blair Underwood). There are several cases where a father has killed his whole family and himself, with the only outside clue being a coded message signed “Longlegs.” In all cases, the murders occurred within six days of a daughter’s birthday, on the 14th of the month. And, the first of these killings took place 30 years before.
This is how Perkins lays out the beginning of his tale of mystery. While touted as a horror story, this is more of a puzzle box, with each move by Agent Harker leading us to another level of the puzzle to be solved. The more revealed, the more there is hidden.
Perkins has coaxed excellent performances from Monroe, Underwood and Harker’s mother, Ruth (Alicia Witt – “Switch Up”), a mentally ill hoarder. Meanwhile, as the film’s writer, Perkins, admittedly influenced by “The Silence of the Lambs,” takes us literally down a staircase, step by step, into the machinations of a psychopath.
The cinematography is fascinating. We are alternately treated to the tic-tac of a suburban neighborhood, the desolate loneliness of isolated farms, and the claustrophobic environment of a hoarder’s home and a madman’s workshop, all beautifully captured.
This film is disturbing, but not as gory as the subject might lead you to expect – as long as you don’t mind maggots.
Runtime: One hour, 41 minutes
Availability: Streaming for payment widely
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