horror


Longlegs is a 2024 American police procedural horror film written and directed by Osgood Perkins and starring Maika Monroe, Alicia Witt, Blair Underwood, and Nicolas Cage. It follows an FBI agent in the 1990s who is tasked with tracking down an occultist serial killer responsible for murdering multiple families throughout Oregon. Cage served as a producer on the film through his Saturn Films production company.

Longlegs was released in the United States by Neon on July 12, 2024. It received critical acclaim and grossed $127 million worldwide on a budget of less than $10 million, becoming Neon's highest-grossing film domestically, the highest-grossing independent film of the year, and Perkins' highest-grossing film.

Plot

In 1974 Oregon, a young girl with a Polaroid camera follows a mysterious voice and encounters an erratic man in pale makeup.

Twenty years later, FBI agent Lee Harker, who exhibits possible clairvoyance, is assigned by her supervisor William Carter to a case involving a series of murder–suicides in Oregon. Each case involves a father killing his family and himself, leaving behind a letter with Satanic coding signed "Longlegs", whose handwriting belongs to none of the family members. Lee discovers that each family had a nine-year-old daughter born on the 14th of the month, the murders all occurred within six days before or after said birthday, and the murders form an occult triangle symbol on a calendar, with one date missing. While talking to her mother Ruth, Lee receives a coded birthday card from Longlegs, warning her that revealing the source of the code will lead to her mother's murder.

Following a clue, Lee and William find a doll with a high-energy metal orb inside. After visiting a mental hospital to question Carrie Anne Camera, the sole survivor of Longlegs's attacks who was visited previously by someone using Lee's name, William suspects Lee has a connection to Longlegs. Discovering that Ruth had filed a police report of an intruder approaching Lee the day before her ninth birthday, William encourages Lee to talk to her. Ruth directs Lee to her childhood belongings, where she finds a Polaroid of the pale-faced man, revealing Longlegs to be the man who had visited a young Lee on her birthday. Lee submits the photo, leading to Longlegs's arrest. Realizing the missing date is that day, Lee fears an accomplice will commit the final murder. In the interrogation room, Longlegs claims to serve "the man downstairs" and hints at Ruth's involvement before killing himself. Lee is soon informed that Carrie has committed suicide.

Agent Browning drives Lee to Ruth's home, where Lee witnesses Ruth kill Browning with a shotgun. Ruth then destroys a doll resembling a young Lee, causing Lee to lose consciousness. Lee sees that Ruth has been Longlegs's accomplice since her childhood. Longlegs forced Ruth to choose between her daughter's death and his bidding, leading her to comply and spare Lee. Longlegs has since lived in the Harker basement, creating Satanic dolls that Ruth, posing as a nun, delivered to households, causing the patriarchs to commit familicide. Lee's doll blocked her memories of Longlegs whilst influencing her with his magic.

Lee awakens in the basement and answers the phone, where a demonic voice warns her about William's daughter Ruby's ninth birthday party scheduled for that day. Lee rushes to save the Carters, whose deaths would complete Longlegs's triangle. She finds the family already possessed, with Ruth having delivered the doll. After William kills his wife Anna, Lee shoots him to protect Ruby. Ruth attacks Lee with a dagger, forcing Lee to shoot her. Lee tries to destroy the doll, but her gun does not fire. Staring at the doll, she tells Ruby they need to leave.

Cast