Simply How Scary Is ‘Longlegs’? Breaking Down Its Twists (Spoilers!)

(Warning: This text comprises spoilers for Longlegs.)

Longlegs, the buzzed-about new horror film opening on July 12, is prone to dwell on within the nightmares of these courageous sufficient to see it.

Some critics are calling the Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage thriller “probably the most terrifying horror film of 2024.” Others are evaluating it to cinematic predecessors as acclaimed as The Silence of the Lambs, Seven and Zodiac. 

Are you able to abdomen the anxiety-inducing environment — and violent twists — in director Osgood Perkins’ serial killer saga? Learn on to guage for your self, and you should definitely creep like a daddy long-legs spider round spoilers. 

Longlegs earns its R score

Forward of its July 12 theatrical launch, Longlegs obtained an R score from the Movement Image Affiliation “for bloody violence, disturbing photographs and a few language.”

In case it’s not abundantly clear, this isn’t a film for kids. An R score signifies that viewers members beneath the age of 17 should be accompanied by a dad or mum or guardian. 

A prologue units the stage for the Longlegs‘ serial killer thriller and creepy tone. Cage’s titular villain appears to cover in plain sight: proven solely from the chin down for almost all of the film, his singsongy voice and pale, old-timey clothes assist create a deeply unsettling vibe. The Satanist isn’t seen in full till the ultimate act of the film, however his eerie presence might be felt all through. 

Monroe’s character, Lee Harker, is a newly employed FBI agent within the mid-Nineties, After the hunt for a special serial killer ends in her companion being shot — one in all a number of shocks that these opposed to leap scares needs to be cautious of — Harker is assigned to a brand new case by her boss, Agent Carter (performed by Blair Underwood). 

The case recordsdata comprise grisly crime scene photographs of Cage’s character’s victims, every killed in several methods however together with his cryptic notes — signed “Longlegs” — in widespread. As Harker herself begins to obtain messages and even visits from the killer, she encounters violence, a psychologically disturbed witness (Kiernan Shipka) and, in an occult twist, lifelike dolls of ladies that comprise a supernaturally evil presence. 

Disturbing photographs abound

Longlegs director Perkins, because the son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins, continues his father’s horror legacy in crafting what PEOPLE known as in its assessment “the yr’s most heebie-jeebies-inducing thriller.” Whereas Longlegs options loads of plot twists, it’s the sights and sounds that infest Perkins’ film that make it so terrifying.

These with ophidiophobia (a worry of snakes) or entomophobia (a worry of bugs) can also really feel uncomfortable because of stomach-churning glimpses of these creatures all through the movie.

Extra spoilers: Lee’s mom Ruth (Alicia Witt) seems to have a surprising connection to Longlegs’ killings, having made a cope with the monster to help him in trade for her daughter’s safety. Perkins’ environment of dread hits a fever pitch late within the film because it turns into clear that Agent Carter and his household are, by Longlegs’ demonic calculations, the following victims. 

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There will likely be blood

Whereas nerve-shredded audiences may really feel that they’ve witnessed loads of violence as Longlegs approaches its conclusion, Perkins saves a lot of the precise blood for the denouement. Lee lastly tracks down and comes face-to-face with a fleeing Longlegs, who whereas in confinement praises Devil and smashes his cranium repeatedly right into a desk till lifeless. 

Lee arrives at her childhood dwelling to query her mom about encountering Longlegs years earlier than. Ruth, who it seems has been housing Longlegs’ creepy doll workshop in her basement, brutally shoots FBI Agent Browning (Michelle Choi-Lee) and proceeds to ship the Carters’ sinister doll to them. 

Carter, beneath the doll’s spell, begins murdering his household by stabbing his spouse — an act that happens offscreen as Lee makes an attempt to purpose with Ruth and defend Carter’s daughter. When he returns to complete the evil act, Lee shoots him after which her mom lifeless. Turning on the demonic doll, her gun clicks empty. 

The movie ends again within the killer’s interrogation cell, as he kisses us, the viewers, goodbye. Longlegs is in theaters now.