"Longlegs" (2024)

A lot of buzz was generated last year by the marketing for “Longlegs.” It looked like it was going to be part “Silence of the Lambs” part “Hereditary.” Turns out, it was that but only at a surface level. You had the barest plot of a female FBI agent chasing a serial killer and the least developed satanic conspiracy. It was a pretty disappointing effort. This has been the track record for Perkins’ films. “Gretel and Hanzel” was a long, slow retelling.

There have been a lot of directors accused of style over substance in the past couple of decades. Often, the style is so good that people convince themselves that the substance is there as well. Perkins is clearly a gifted visual story presenter. However, the substance in these films is so anemic it is hard to justify the story overall.

A stand-out sequence in Longlegs can serve to illustrate. Our heroine is sitting alone in her dark, creepy house studying clues. Her desk is situated such that her back is to the room and a doorway to another room is behind her as well. Perkins positions the camera in such a way that the audience is forced to consider, and dread, that open doorway leading to a darkened room behind her for a very long shot. It is an effective creation of tension… that goes nowhere.

This film left the audience with so many questions and unfilled holes that no amount of Cage at his most silly is enough to cover. Not the worst film of 2024, but close.