Longlegs (2024) July 14th, 2024

A filmmaking homage might reference or draw inspiration from great movies in countless ways. A line of dialogue, an iconic shot, costume design, or even set dressing can show deference for the creatives who came before. In his newest film, Longlegs writer-director Oz Perkins skips these customary methods and appears to pass off the copy-pasted elements of his inspirations as his own ideas.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A young female FBI agent with a keen intuition and a special ability to read crime scenes gets roped into tracking down a serial killer who constructs female effigies in his basement. Add hamfisted biblical symbolism and rock n’ roll-inspired satanism starring Nicholas Cage, and you’ve got Longlegs. Sorry, Oz, but writing “Create a 90-minute atmospheric The Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, and Mandy-esq supernatural thriller” into Chat GPT doesn’t qualify you for Best Original Screenplay.

Unfortunately for Longlegs, its astounding set design, talented actors, and talented cinematographer don’t balance out the insipid scripting and aimless direction. The cinematographer, set designer, and art director took great care crafting a hauntingly mundane mid-90s aesthetic. It’s the kind of work that deserves to be celebrated and enjoyed, but it’s stuck to a terrible script like a turd duct-taped to a show pony. As far as the acting goes, Blair Underwood shines as Jack Crawford, but suffering through Maika Monroe’s Elizabeth Holmes impression and Nicholas Cage’s self-indulgently clownish performance is enough to reinstitutionalize Abed Nadir.

I’m disappointed Longlegs‘ script got as far along as it did without an executive removing or reworking the apparent plagiarism. I doubt Oz Perkins set out to rip off his audience and his heroes; it’s more likely his creative reach exceeded his grasp, and when push came to shove, he reinvented the wheel (to use exactly one idiom). What’s more baffling is it seems like the studio recognized the comparisons and decided to hide them in plain sight by using pull quotes comparing Longlegs to The Silence of the Lambs in the trailers.

James Wan’s Malignant committed similar sins by clearly recreating Frank Hennenlotter’s indy masterpiece Basket Case. Wann then played dumb in the press, insisting any similarities were coincidental. I hope this happens less. Isn’t it awful enough that most of the films in theaters now are sequels or remakes? I know making films based on established IPs is as old as the art form itself, but at least have the decency to tell me I’m watching a remake before I find my seat.

Oz Perkins stretched Longlegs‘ unoriginal premise into a fully realized unoriginal film that garnered far more press than deserved, but don’t take my word for it. Watch the trailer, and if you’re still interested, buy the ticket and take the ride. But don’t be disappointed if it’s nothing more than a Tubi-Original, because I warned you.