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Longlegs is a film that’s not particularly lengthy, but is still split into three chapters, the details of which you will see when they’re revealed, so I give no spoilers, here.
We first see Nicolas Cage (Arcadian), as the titular serial killer, in a 4:3 flashback scene, saying, “I wore my long legs, today”, before the credits bring us to the ‘present day’, which is set in the ’90s – since there’s a picture of Bill Clinton on the wall in the police station, identifying him as the incumbent President – even though the weather is constantly as a miserable as Manchester.
FBI Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe – The Guest) finds herself on the hunt, given how her current workload is progressing, and as well as Cage’s character going about his day – and following how his crimes have been committed since 1966, there’s situations where multiple murders are taking place in houses, often wiping out whole families, over the decades. So, just what exactly is going on?
In time, she also receives a letter from Longlegs, which brings the cold case back to life, but while Cage is at his most psychotic for some time in this, and while his make-up makes him look like the Bride of Wildenstein, when you get to what links his crimes, thus making him a serial killer, it does feel a bit ridiculous in how this plot point is carried through.
Overall, I didn’t quite get into the vibe with this film, and maybe a second viewing would help. It has had comparisons with Silence of the Lambs, and I understand that. Similarly, I wasn’t big on that film, either, when I first saw it, but I’ve got into it more, with later viewings. So, this one could also breathe with time.
Plus, I haven’t seen Alicia Witt, as Lee’s mother, Ruth, in so long that I didn’t recognise her. Then I remembered, that was in Cybill in 1995, and people tend to change in that time.
Now, another mystery. I booked Longlegs in screen 6 at Trafford Centre (one of my favourite screens, as while it’s all regular seating, they’re newer and a bit wider than the regulars in non-refurbished screens, and all the chatterboxes go to the back), and on the day, find it’s moved to screen 10 (below, with premiere seating in the middle, but the cheapskates chatterboxes always sit in the row behind that!). The layout for both screens is entirely different to one another.
The system moved my seat automatically from C4 in screen 6, to C4 in screen 10 – way too close to the front on this screen, and despite being on Limitless Plus, because that’s a regular seat, the app blanks out all the Premiere seats, the only way to book one is to cancel the booking, and rebook, hoping the stupid app doesn’t glitch and lock me out of the screen! (known fault at Odeon, but they do NOTHING about it).
Also, for some reason, Longlegs was swapped over with Bollywood movie Indian 2, but the timings for either film hadn’t changed, and they were both back in their original screens from the next day. So, why would they swap them just for the Sunday?
There are more seats in this screen 10, and I know Longlegs has become popular (apparently, a Tiktok thing, but don’t expect me to understand that), but the time I watched it was the same as the Euros final, so it’d be relatively empty. And it was, although still, a couple came in just after I’d got settled, and sat almost exactly behind me, FFS!
A shame that while there was also a showing in a different room with a separate section of front seating (which I prefer, because it’s separate from the idiots that come in), that wasn’t until an hour after I was planning to go, so I didn’t want to hang about all that time.
So, I asked Odeon what happened, and ultimately, as well as them actually answering the question (quite rare with Odeon customer service), at first, they told me “I’ve spoken with the cinema team at ODEON Trafford Centre and they experienced issues with the heating/air conditioning system in screen 6 meaning it could not go ahead in this screen and had to be moved to screen 10”.
I then asked them to check with them, because: “if screen 6 was unfit for use, why did they simply switch Longlegs and Indian 2 between the screens, so Indian 2 would be similarly affected.
And since Monday this week, Longlegs is back in screen 6. So, with screen 6 still showing films, the heating/air-con surely can’t be an issue?”
They checked again and confirmed: “The management team have confirmed that there was a slight heating problem in screen 6 that has since been resolved. Due to the number of sales for Longlegs, the team made the decision to swap the 2 showings, as there were minimal sales for Indian 2 in screen 10.”
So, for the few people watching Indian 2, they were either freezing, boiling or stuffy 😀
However, I’m surprised they (a) got the heating fixed within a day, and on a Sunday. Maybe some things are marked as urgent.
A shame blurry screens aren’t, as per my recent viewings of Despicable Me 4, and the second viewing of Inside Out 2.
There are no mid-credits or post-credits scenes in this film.
Longlegs is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of its release date TBA.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 101 minutes
Release date: July 12th 2024
Studio: NEON
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (ARRIRAW (4.5K)), 1.33:1 (some scenes)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 5/10
Director: Oz Perkins
Producers: Nicolas Cage, Dave Caplan, Chris Ferguson, Dan Kagan, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones
Screenplay: Oz Perkins
Music: Elvis Perkins (as Zilgi)
Cast:
Agent Lee Harker: Maika Monroe
Longlegs: Nicolas Cage
Agent Carter: Blair Underwood
Ruth Harker: Alicia Witt
Agent Browning: Michelle Choi-Lee
Agent Fisk: Dakota Daulby
Young Lee Harker: Lauren Acala
Carrie Anne Camera: Kiernan Shipka
Young Carrie Anne Camera: Maila Hosie
Father Camera: Jason Day
Mother Camera: Lisa Chandler
Ruby Carter: Ava Kelders
Adult Ruby Carter: Rryla McIntosh
Anna Carter: Carmel Amit
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.