If you even occasionally follow horror movie updates, chances are you have come across discussions surrounding Osgood Perkins’ latest crime thriller/horror venture, Longlegs. Ever since its release, the movie has evoked a divisive reaction among fans, with some equating it with the likes of the best A24 horror entries, while another section has voiced a strong displeasure, calling the movie pretentious and vapid, attributing its success to hype and its ability to ape other classics. Being honest, combining elements of a sleek, moody crime thriller with heady occult horror sounds really good on paper, and it’s something Longlegs earnestly attempts to do, but it is rather an easier said than done kind of affair as the transition between two genres might feel janky to some viewers. Aside from that, Longlegs holds its own pretty well thanks to the intensity in the performances of Maika Monroe and the ever-dependable Nicholas Cage, whose presence in the movie keeps the audience hooked.
Spoiler Alert
Into the Clutches of Longlegs
Early in the movie, an eerie interaction captures viewers’ attention. A secluded dwelling in snow-clad wilderness comes into focus as a station wagon stops near the house, prompting a curious little girl to step outside the house and check on the situation. She is greeted by a middle-aged, eccentric, uncanny man—whose creepy gestures, weird speech pattern, heavy makeup, and prosthetic face hide something rather sinister. The interaction is showcased in a Polaroid camera frame, just like the one the kid carries with her, which adds the element of personal touch with it. The choice of Polaroid frame in this sequence also keeps the entire profile of the strange person out of the picture—a heads-up for events in the future.
Years later, the little girl, Lee Harker, is pursuing a career as an FBI agent. Lee is socially anxious, emotionally distant from others, and has a demeanor about her that literally screams that she is hiding something. Agent Harker also possesses a limited hyper-intuitive, precognitive ability, which lends her much assistance in investigation, and an example is shown pretty soon. Harker and her partner must apprehend a killer, whose location she is able to pinpoint thanks to her abilities; however, her partner is killed during the investigation.
Agent Carter, one of Lee’s seniors in the department, learns about Harker’s abilities and assigns her to the most notorious and baffling case of serial killing the organization has faced so far. In the span of three decades, ten families have been viciously murdered at the hands of the respective families’ patriarch, who later on takes his own life as well, as it seems that someone is influencing his actions. The only clue about the real perp is found in ciphers present at each of the crime scenes, signed with a single comprehensible word, Longlegs—the same name which the mysterious, creepy individual had uttered while speaking with a young Harker all those years ago. A common factor in each family murder is the fact that each family has a young girl as a family member, whose date of birth is the 14th irrespective of the month.
Further into Investigation
Harker starts going deeper down the proverbial rabbit hole as she has a hard time connecting the dots as she tries to make sense of how a serial killer could remotely orchestrate the murders while influencing their victims? Harker’s obsession poses a risk to her own well-being, which prompts Agent Carter to ask her to take a break. Later on, Carter takes Harker to his house and introduces her to his family. Harker is not exactly thrilled to meet Harker’s wife, Anna but eventually warms up to their daughter Ruby.Â
Harker’s relationship with her mother, Ruth, is a topic that needs to be addressed, as it becomes the emotional crux of the movie later on. It seems that Harker has an estranged relationship with her mother, who continuously asks her to keep saying her prayers —for reasons still unknown. However, Harker has a somewhat sympathetic attitude towards her mother, the only family she’s had since her childhood, and keeps in touch with her. Ruth is overly concerned about her daughter’s safety, as she occasionally shares her worries with Harker about her work taking a toll on her mental health.
On one occasion, Harker receives a cryptic letter from Longlegs, which threatens Harker to not reveal the truth, or else her mother will be the next victim. The death toll continues to ramp up as another family is killed by Longlegs’ influence. This time, Harker takes an unconventional approach as she delves into the occult to find clues and identifies the pattern of murder incidents forming a satanic triangle. Additionally, Harker has decoded the ciphers to pinpoint a location of interest, a farmhouse belonging to the Camera family, who lost their lives under Longlegs’ influence, leaving only the youngest member of the family, Carrie Ann, the sole survivor of Longlegs’ rampage. From the Camera farm, Harker and Carter find a strange doll with a metal ball in the place of its brain. Harker is of the opinion that their find might be related to black magic or voodoo; her senior outright rejects such a ludicrous idea. The duo go to meet Carrie Ann, who is admitted in a mental asylum, in order to pry out information about Longlegs, but find her to be totally controlled by the serial killer to such an extent that the kid says she would kill Harker if she was asked to.
Interestingly enough, Harker and Carter find out that just a day before their arrival, someone had already met with Carrie Ann under the name of Harker, and that the interaction had totally altered Carrie’s previously catatonic state. Carter is bewildered as this sudden link between Harker and Longlegs comes as a shock to him, and he gets rattled to learn that Harker herself had almost become a victim of Longlegs during her younger days. Harker is instructed by his senior to visit her mother to ask questions about her past and everything she can learn about Longlegs.
Harker’s Connection to Longlegs
Harker finds Ruth in a miserable mental state, as she has resorted to substance abuse, and when asked about the incident regarding Longlegs, Ruth remains in constant denial about anything happening in the past at all. However, Harker finds a Polaroid photograph of Longlegs in her room, which she had taken during their first interaction, and it proves to be enough to locate the serial killer and bring him into custody. Seeing how apprehending the culprit became too easy all of a sudden, Harker believes that Longlegs has an accomplice, but her concerns are refuted by Carter.
A captive Longlegs, now identified as Dale Kobble, demands to meet with Harker, and as the amateur agent begins her interrogation, the maniac killer starts spewing a whole lot of gibberish about “The Man Downstairs”— Satan himself, who made him do his dirty work of cleansing. Through cryptic hints shared by Longlegs, Harker realizes that the dolls had the essence of Satan inside them, which used to influence the patriarchs of the families to orchestrate the gruesome killings. As for his accomplice, Longlegs suggests Harker speak with her mother, Ruth, and proceeds to violently bash his own head on the table of the interrogation room to kill himself.
Harker returns to her home with Agent Browning and gets shocked out of her wits when her mother takes the life of Agent Browning by shooting her point blank. A desperate Harker tries to stop her mother, who shoots a doll made of Harker’s likeness, which results in Harker losing her consciousness and going on a psychic trip back in time. In flashback scenarios with Ruth narrating the incidents, it becomes clear that Ruth had made a deal with the Devil and his apprentice, Longlegs, back in the day. In exchange for them sparing Harker’s life, she acted as their agent by taking the dolls made by Kobble to the houses of their victims. Being a nurse by profession, convincing the religious-minded families that the dolls were a gift from church was no issue for Ruth, who had to witness the violent aftermath that followed as Satan took control of the minds of his victims through the doll. Fleeting memories of her mother making a bargain with Longlegs occasionally came across Harker’s mind, and this also explains why she possessed enhanced intuitive, precognitive skills in the first place. For Ruth, her actions were justified, as it ensured that she and Harker escape eternal damnation, and Harker got to grow up as a regular child.
Was Agent Harker Able to Put an End to Longlegs Murders?
After regaining her senses, Harker receives an ominous call that warns her about Agent Carter’s daughter, Ruby’s fate—who is celebrating her birthday at her home. In a battered, dazed state, Harker somehow gathers her strength and resolve to reach Carter’s house and finds her mother, Ruth, to be already present there with the doll. However, Harker is too late, as she finds the family is already under the influence of Satan, with Carter and his wife Anna completely losing their mental faculties and Ruby bewitched by the presence of the doll itself. Carter, under the spell, takes Harker’s wife to the kitchen where she viciously murders her. At this stage, Harker has no other choice but to kill Carter when he attempts to kill his own daughter as well. Ruth tries to take control of the situation by killing Ruby, but an anguished Harker ends up killing her mother as well to save the little kid.
Harker points her gun towards the doll, the root of evil itself, but stops right before shooting at it and decides to escape with Ruby instead. The movie ends with Harker’s vacant gaze at the doll, seemingly accepting that there is no getting rid of the evil from the world, as there will be no shortage of Kobbles or Ruths who will take up the unholy responsibility of spreading rot in the human mind. Harker is helpless to stop the inevitable, and merely shooting a mind-controlling doll will not solve anything. Or perhaps Harker herself came under the influence of the Serpent itself, and following in her mother’s footsteps, she will continue the sinister duties in her stead. The ending is open to interpretation, but Harker’s allegiance might not matter that much in the context of the larger picture anyway.
There are some interesting allegories scattered across Longlegs in the form of religious symbolism, which accentuate the significance of the actions and motivations of the characters in turn. For example, the doll with a metal sphere in its head can be interpreted as a symbol of Eve and the forbidden fruit, which tempts humanity to commit the original sin, and in this context, acting as a vessel of Satan, it influences the patriarchs to destroy their families. The doll can also be perceived as a symbol of oppression and subjugation, as it traps the minds of its victims, with the metal sphere acting as a harvester of life essence. Number 14 is associated with age of spiritual awakening, which somewhat explains the Longlegs’ willingness to target girls with that particular date of birth. The opening, portraying Harker’s home shrouded by a blanket of snow, symbolizes the purity of her soul, which later got tainted due to the appearance of Longlegs, and by the end, her house’s dilapidated condition is a reflection of her mother, Ruth’s maligned soul. The appearance of Longlegs, adorned in white dress, over-the-top white makeup, and prosthetics, is a deliberate mockery of the conventional appearance of the angels; as opposed to the celestial beings in heavenly abodes, Kobble is interested in serving the beast who reigns in the depths of Hell. Parental control over a child’s upbringing was one of the major themes in the movie, which was influenced by the director’s own experience as well, and Harker’s relation with her mother reflects the dread of overbearing parents. The whole narrative can be interpreted as Harker’s reserved, unsocial demeanor resulting from a cloistered existence and her eventual fallout with the only guardian figure in her life in an effort to escape the shackles that tied her up.Â
