Longlegs (2024) Movie Review | SCARIEST Movie of the Year + SPOILERS

i heard someone say leaving the theater “i wish it was a little more, or a little less” and i agree with them completely

For most of the movie my eyes were scanning the entire screen. I was looking at and through doorways, windows, hallways, etc. More than a couple of times I was focusing on the back of or an adjacent room. The suspense was constant and paced really well. I felt genuinely uncomfortable even during simple conversations. This was great at making me overthink things and keep me invested in the story.

One thing I haven’t seen anyone discuss is the acting of the family in the final scene. In a lot of horror movies the posessed become either silent robot killers or crazed animals. Here it was more disturbing, like they were poisoned. The wife was trying to appear normal but deep down knew something terrible was happening.

I feel like some people just stick to "scariest movie of the decade," and instead of enjoying the movie, they just focus on trying not to be scared and see it as some challenge. This movie stuck with me and deeply unsettled me!

During Lee's psychic abilities test done by the FBI, they flash an inverted triangle and Lee says the word father. I think it all started with them

The way I only realized this movie is set in the 90s after seeing a picture of Bill Clinton on the wall in the FBI office. 😅

I thought the scariest part of the film are the scenes of Lee by herself in her house. As someone who lived alone not too long ago, I can totally relate to the complete isolation and fear of being by yourself. Overall, the film was brilliant in capturing mood and moments of dread. Cage's singing is a great example of this. Some people laughed at it, I thought it was terrifying simply because it's a man completely out of his head. Great review by the way and keep up the good work!!!

ive thought about this, and after a bit of discussion with others, ive come to understand the film a little better. In regards to your question about Longlegs inserting himself into the family: during the interrogations scene, after Longlegs makes a reference to a she, Lee asks who he is talking about, to which he replies “the seventh she. To be given the same choice that they’ve all been given. Crimson or clover.” So either accept the "gift", and eventually destroy yourselves, or reject it and "bow down, all the way down, and get down to the dirty work", or in other words, commit to the same mission that he is. The "seventh she" suggests her mother was not the first person he made this offer to, but she was the first to "choose the clover". In other words, her daughter being allowed to grow up unlike the others, but in exchange damning her own soul by helping Longlegs carry out his task. As for her psychic abilities, i do believe they come directly from her connection to the doll. And since these dolls contain the devil's essence, you could say that Satan is who gave her these abilities. She's had the devil in her this whole time. Her mother shooting the doll severs that connection, but he decides to give her one last call to nudge her in the direction he wants. I'm not sure if all of this is objectively correct, but it does make the most sense

The opening and a scene where a certain character looks at a picture - made my heart stop. The cinema BOOMED with the sound design.

I think the reason why Harker’s family was chosen was because Longlegs wanted to act as her father. We see Longlegs tying up Harker’s mom as she begs for mercy, essentially doing what the other fathers do during their breakdowns. Also, his name, Longlegs, literally has the word “daddy” at the front of it when referring to the spider. Plus, when Harker was doing the evaluation, she sees an upside down triangle (the 9 circles link w the book) and immediately says “father.” In a sick and twisted way, Longlegs IS Harker’s dad, and she was going to be killed by him had her mom not stepped in. That’s just my running theory anyway 😅

I watched this last weekend and it gave me the same feeling Hereditary, but less of the lasting depression. I loved it a lot, but I felt like the last act was rushed. I wanted the first two acts to last forever

For me the horror of this movie was in how realistically it portrayed trauma. Lee has classic symptoms of C-PTSD from her social awkwardness, not being able to remember elements of her childhood or things that happened, or having blind spots or tunnel vision of what you're able to notice - those are all classic traits of growing up with trauma as it affects your development. Even her intuition/"psychic" abilities could be put down to being overly sensitive to elements non-traumatized people don't notice as they've never had to grow up with that survival mechanism - especially as she only had these abilities surrounding negative events. Even her mothers hoarding is a classic trauma symptom. I enjoyed this movie because the mental illness was part of the horror, but it was the result of the horrific things rather than what was actually causing the murders to happen like it's usually treated in horror movies.

Maybe the most disturbed I have been by a movie since hereditary. Truly traumatic. Sure, it’s not stereotypically “scary”. But it’s unsettling as HECK.

i think the color white and its symbolic meaning unlocks a lot of this movie, the absence of darkness + how deeply he floods these clean lives with that darkness. he references the color a LOT

That opening scene gave me pure chills. I'm so glad you are reviewing this!! My heart was beating the whole movie. His face has haunted me since I watched it.

I’m not bashing everyone else’s opinions, but I’m so bummed this movie isn’t hitting for me like others. My boyfriend thought it was kind of bad, and I thought it was just okay. I wish it affected me like others.

I feel like most people who aren't really horror fans only believe a jump scare is truly scary. I'm the opposite. Tension, suspense, supernatural...that is scary to me. So true, it's very subjective.

I didn’t find Longlegs scary. I also don’t judge those who do find it scary because it’s completely subjective and it’s extremely disrespectful and pretentious to call anyone’s opinions “wrong.” There is no right, there is no wrong, there is only conversation.

I’m not easily scared as a seasoned horror fan. That opening scene with Longlegs and young Lee had me jumping so hard I was wearing my popcorn!

The timing is insane, I literally came back from the cinema after seeing it and Sarah uploaded 6 minutes ago!