One cool thing about Oz Perkins is how he makes woman-centered horror stories that don't include sexual assault. As a female viewer, that's very refreshing.
I have had this exact moment from the movie on repeat in my head ever since I saw it. It was so unexpected, but also so weirdly compelling and uncomfortable, but I just can’t stop thinking about it.
It was super distracting to me. I thought it was a plot point that he made a mask and wore it but when it was shown to be his face I was confused why it was so weird
He's supposed to be some old glam rock dude who at some point made a deal with the devil. Pretty much Marylin Manson, just after like 30 years and 20 botched plastic surgeries. He's like if Brian Warner was an "actually believes in satan" kind of satanist and not just an aging sex offender who continues to release music that's way below average when compared to his older work.
WOW I’ve watched at least 20 reviews and you’re the first person I’ve heard about childhood trauma making you shut down and be cold and repress memories of traumatic events. Doing my dishes and said ‘wowwwww’ out loud. Thank you, that’s a great key to interpreting the film.
The thesis of being forced to live with something you can't accept is also reflected on Longlegs himself. It's not lost on me that his possibly self inflicted cosmetic atrocities are a reflection of his work as a dollmaker. The dolls are meant to be a perfect personification of their targets with none of the flaws, none of the scars, none of the unpleasantness of living. He tries to accomplish the same for himself by becoming a living doll as best he can. He's just a vessel for someone else's perceived desires (Satan). And through malice or tragedy he's finally found a form of himself he can accept by Longlegs himself being accepted by Satan. He wants to spread that release of burden of trauma by indoctrinating other families into the mental freedom of surrendering yourself to Satan as a way out of the cycle of being forced to live with trauma. I may be waaay off, but even if I am I love movies like this that are oozing with intentionality and have enough grissle to chew on to make it satisfying to dissect what is trying to be said.
I really appreciate your analysis here and the observation of his cosmetic features being a result of self dollification didn’t even occur to me! Bravo 👏
I haven't seen the movie yet, but I've been thinking constantly about Perkins saying he took from his own relationship with his mother and how she was hiding the fact that Anthony was gay and sleeping with men outside of their marriage from her kids. Which considering the fact that the tabloids found out Anthony Perkins had HIV before he did and Oz was a teenager at the time... Yeah, I can see that inspiration of childhood trauma and complicated family dynamics from how you described it.
i'll always remember my experience because i had horrible IBS and had to leave about three quarters of the way through (very bummed about this) but then i immediately found out that there had been an attempted assasination. wild experience 9/10
The true horror is that you're filming your thoughts on a horror movie with a door and window behind you and you don't have a single worry about being jumpscared. My need-to-see-all-entrances/exits anxiety that flares up after seeing a horror movie couldn't handle that
For me, the "scares" in horror movies come much later... like months and even years later, and then it's more like a general "spooked" feeling... * shivers *
THANK-YOU. I thought I was going nuts being the only person thinking the stuff with the balls borrowed heavily from Twin Peaks: the return. Have seen literally NO ONE mentioning this.
OMG the Tulpa! I was thinking meditation ball/Phantasm ball? My friend and I were laughing thinking it was going to rise in the air, sprout blades and fly into someone's head! 😂
Not just the one trailer. Every teaser made for the film has been vague and creepy as hell. Making the hype around it that much more anticipated. And the ARG from the website made it even more intriguing.
I couldn't help but compare Nicholas Cage's character with the antagonist from Mandy. Like Longlegs is the caliber of occult mastermind that Jeremiah Sand aspired to be, but failed.
I kinda wish that Linus Roache had played Longlegs, he would have absolutely nailed the character. Cage was OK, but he can't resist the urge to go crazy a little too quickly.
there's this throughline in both Panów Cosmatos movies where antagonists are pathetic outcasts hiding behind false trappings of power. Longlegs is reverse externally pathetic but it hides a terryfying power
Ahh!! I'm so so happy you dug this movie too! The moment I came out of the theater after our goodbye kiss from Longlegs I was vibrating with my friends over how much I had such a great time. You nailed so much of why I loved this movie and was happy to see a full theater for a horror movie (nature is healing)
The start of the movie was so good, I was so excited to watch it, but towards the end it lost me. Idk, I guess the beginning made me expect something different
I stopped this video, then planned a trip to my local theater. I watched it today and loved it. It’s the first time in a while that a horror movie held my attention so much and also made my heart race.
Been watching May's videos since March 2017. Good analysis, thoughtful, real, and a reserved enthusiastic energy. If there has been any change in all these years it has been from an nervous energy to a confident energy. Those pandemic videos got me through when I still had to go to work. Concerning this video, great video as always. Thanks.
I went to see Longlegs and there was a group of five rowdy boys trying to buy tickets to my screening, but when they got tickets for the later screening they exclaimed “LET’S GOOOO!”. Longlegs fever isn’t just sweeping the nation, it’s sweeping internationally.
Deeeefinitely turned to my roomie when the first scene wrapped up and said "we're about to see something special", so I relate to that for sure, but I am about to diverge in a sec (maybe in a way that directs some of that heat to me, who knows!) ... The interpretation of the horror in this movie as a stand in for child hood trauma, that rings really fucking true, and I didn't make that connection. That meaningful process, or maybe process of making meaning, whatever, I think really saves this movie from, potential hot take #1, Longlegs just being another vehicle for Nic Cage to be whackadoodle. I never did lose the sense that I was watching something special here, but I did wind up leaving thinking that this movie had been overhyped to audiences like me who are rabidly devouring horror offerings left and right. In that respect, maybe I just need to take a break from the constant content mill and I'd be able to appreciate it more. But I also think it is worth saying that, if this movie DIDN'T have Nic Cage, we would not, collectively, be forgiving it the very silliest choices of its characters or its knowing winks at us through the 4th wall. I think we would be alot more critical. But it's Nic, so we don't. Osgood Perkins has really proven himself, on basically every conceivable level, as a storyteller, director, the lot, and especially when it comes to a good spook. It's one of the reasons I ignored the rumors comparing it to Silence of the Lambs, and swallowed the initial gut reaction I had to the sussy gender performance in that first scene; I trust Perkins not to do me dirty, and he didn't betray the trust. But as others have pointed out, this movie is in conversation with Mandy (and SotL) and the satanic panic era, and what you're saying about the idea of the devil having door to door missionaries, I think this is more of a key to getting the movie than it first appears. This really does play like a kind of idle joke or funny improv scenario you imagine to yourself for a chuckle, suddenly invested with good budget and star power, but is more clever than it is deep, more craftsmanship than art. I liked it, a great deal, but I can't find it moving in any regard, much like the only thing that struck me as even a little "scary" was whether I was going to have to endure Cage's interpretation of Buffalo Bill. How much of that is due to having processed my own trauma differently is anyone's guess. But this brings Perkins, for me, closer to Ti West than I would have hoped in that, hottest of takes, Ti West fully embodies to me the auteur "oh I have seen so many movies and I can reference them beautifully while telling bleak stories about people it's almost impossible to care about doing nothing worth mentioning for hours". For me, filmmakers like him are the problem, and not Blumhouse, and I know Perkins is a hell of a lot better than that. I very much hope we don't wind up remembering Longlegs as his best work as the years go on, and I'd leave it there, while still admitting it was a damn fun time in the theater.
The biggest theme that I haven't seen almost anyone else discuss or interpret this way is the historical treatment of people on the autism spectrum. I mean, Harker seems very evidently neurodivergent, and to then reveal her to be "demon possessed" seems intentional.
I liked the individual elements of the movie but it just did not hang together for me. After the beginning of the movie, the reveal of the mechanism of murder being evil dolls with devil balls was was, I think, a bridge too far for me to follow lol
Yeah, when the spooky remote psychic murders turned into “actually he had an accomplice who dressed as a nun, drove a really conspicuous car into the suburbs, carried a giant package into the murder house, watched the murders happen, and then emerged, blood-covered, in the middle of the day to drive her blue beetle away” it deflated basically all of the tension. It made the supposedly mindhunter level psychic FBI super squad look completely incompetent. Like even ignoring the spooky doll element, the FBI never canvassed the neighborhood to ask about suspicious persons? I mean, I don’t know, I understand the movie wasn’t About that, but like, the more things were explained, the stupider it got. I was actually mad leaving the theater cos it was like “well that was a fuckin waste of my time” But I do like the cinematography, I thought the sound work was incredible, Maika Monroe was carrying the whole movie so hard I thought I was going to have a panic attack in sympathy with her. I enjoyed Nic Cage’s performance, too, but it did feel a little Buffalo Bill-esque, like they never SAID the character was trans or trans adjacent but boy was it implied. Felt kinda regressive in a way I didn’t like. I mean at least the movie made me feel things, even if it was mostly anger and frustration lol
I'm with you. I was so so excited to see this movie, and I was so disappointed when I did. There were so many great elements to it, and Maika Monroe's performance was fantastic and her character was fascinating, but it was all in service of a story that was just too silly or too nothing to care about.
omg it’s so exciting for me to see you’ve uploaded only 20 mins ago? i literally went and saw the movie last night on an impulse with my sister and her gf and it was such a ride.. the visuals were so good, as was the soundtrack. it had fantastic framing shots and it just felt so eerie, like it was getting under your skin. im not even finished watching this vid yet lol (6 mins in), but i just wanted to say im so thrilled to see u upload a video on it :] !
Never commented before, but just want to say I really enjoy your objective approach to talking about... anything. I realized this when I was watching your Elden Ring video and I don't give a single fuck about those games but it was just interesting to hear you talk about them. I'm super glad you're back to making videos regularly, and I pretty much enjoy everything you create. Please continue!
I watched this movie and half-way through I knew this was a story about a person who convinces people to kill through hypnotic suggestion. I felt that because that was the plot of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s CURE, which was released back in 1997.
I started this video a lil bit after it came out, so I could see your intro, cause I love your takes at the beginning, and I was gonna go see it today. I just got home from seeing it, and oh man, I know exactly what you mean by always remembering where you were when you saw it. That sure was a movie lol. Like a really good movie, but *a movie* I'm so ready for your analysue
When I first saw Nick Cage I was like “oh no it’s doing the killer in drag thing that would be catastrophic for the biggest horror movie of the year to have that” but I guess he was just supposed to look pale and creepy. I doubt this was Perkins plan but I hope the Satan obsessed bigot crowd doesn’t get ahold of this movie
I found that his pale face is less like drag and more like he's painting himself to resemble a doll bc he too is also a vessel for Satan to channel through.
the way he’s talked abt Longlegs (the character) in interviews, I’ve seen him use ‘he/she’ pronouns (like ‘he/she is rly pale’) and say stuff like Longlegs has both male/female energy, but also is based on his mom like w that high voice (‘ohh! there she is! the almost birthday girl!’) I’m still digesting the notion, but I’d be down for a bigender serial killer character. Cage never used words like ‘bigender,’ ‘trans,’ etc in interviews and Longlegs’ gender/presentation doesn’t seem to be overtly relevant anyway, so I think it’s fine?
@@rotisseriepossum yeah I mean as a drag performer I lowkey love the killer in drag trope (I’ve done a Norman Bates number lol) I just think with everything going on it’s kind of perilous territory
@@callum6123You have a good point and I don't think people are ready to acknowledge it. 2024 isn't really in a place where it's responsible to have LGBTA+ villains in the mainstream. I still cringe every time the community recommends rocky horror as an introduction to the uninitiated cishet, because two hours later it's followed up with "wtf Dr. Frank-n-Furter literally SAs the protagonists and people love this guy? This movie isn't about sexual liberation, it's really predatory!" It's a movie made by a transphobe. Like Sleepaway Camp, it is NOT something you put on for someone who's not neck deep in the culture and ready to digest it for what it is. I'm not trying to make a "don't scare the cishets they're such pearl clutchers" argument, just pointing out a safety concern for people who don't accurately read the atmosphere. Be careful when reinforcing stereotypes around people already susceptible to them hhhhhh
It was so satisfying to watch Longlegs. I had such a great experience with the film. The acting was good, the film making was good, there were themes that were theme-ing. I loved that it ended with the T. Rex song playing over the credits--it was like the film was saying that was a fun experience wasn't it? Like it didn't take itself too seriously, just told the story it wanted to tell and did it well.
Is it time again to immediately stop what I was doing and watch May's new video? Yes! Am I writing this before watching this? Yes. Have a nice day everyone as we're watching this together!
From the second I saw the T. Rex quote, and heard “Jewel” by the very same band, I knew I was going to love everything that proceeded. I was absolutely correct, this was the best horror movie I’ve ever seen in my 32 years of life.
I really enjoyed this film and was also super excited to see it. I loved the main character, the acting, the tone and atmosphere, the cinematography and sound design, even the underlying themes. However... For someone who adores and often watches surreal, intticate stuff, this is like the third time in my whole life where I left thinking "damn... I don't get it?." Like yeah, I think I understand the themes and symbolism, but the last 15 minutes legit made me go "...why." Why presenting the metaphors this way? Why now? I wanted to understand! The ending grew on me quite a lot after a few days, but I think this film would've packed a bigger punch with a more "direct" approach to its themes towards the end, like The Babadook, Pearl, Crash, etc. Like you say, it is a very well done horror film, but it could've been life-changing to me if they fleshed out the themes more, in a conclusive way.
PERFECT TIMING i literally just got out of the cinema after seeing this movie and i loved it!!! i immediately want to rewatch it where i can pause it i loved how incredibly carefully this film was put together, and how well acted it was. idk if other ppl get the feeling that lee hawker was meant to be autistic but as a neurodivergent person i found a lot of her mannerisms and acting to be very relatable i was also surprised by the appearance of nick cage and damn!!!! he was really giving it everything!!!
I think Carrie Anne Camera came out of catatonia because her doll was freed and the head was broken open. However, the Twin Peaks esque metal ball inside was unbroken, meaning she probably doesn't remember what happened to her parents and has only a positive perception of Long Legs. He's the only person who came to visit her up to that point as well. As long as her ball remains unbroken, she won't have those memories of how her parents died. Also, did anyone else notice that the coroner said he heard the ball calling his ex-wife's name? Ruth was probably affected by being near Long Legs, but the ball didn't exert the same control over her. The demon in the vessel of the ball likely only affects adult men (even if the coroner was never a target).
Saw it last night, and still have it rattling around my brain . Thought what May articulated- that it takes a bunch of hackyned tropes and makes something interesting
That’s so funny I had the same exact theatrical experience. I was doing a Movie Day where I spend all day at the theater and Longlegs was my last movie, and I was shocked when I went to get my ticket and it was nearly sold out. I ended up in the front row, all the way at the end, with the one chair in the whole theater that couldn’t recline. I was sitting in such a bad angle the whole time and everything on the screen was skewed. I might go see it a second time so I can like actually appreciate the cinematography lol
I was hyped for this movie, but I walked out after 45 minutes. Turns out the whole concept of the murders was genuinely too upsetting for me as the mother of a daughter. If that makes me a weenie, so be it, I guess. Walking out was an oddly empowering experience though, like I was telling myself I don't have to sit through something that is making me uncomfortable. So anyway I fall into category 3, people who walked out but want to know how it ends 😂😂
Don’t ever try watching Schindler’s list as a parent. I only saw a few scenes and the ones with kids absolutely broke me and I even ran into the bathroom throwing up being so upset
Honestly, my partner and I had such a blast watching Longlegs. I’ve been slowly getting him to watch old horror slashers like Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I’ll explain how cinematography and sound design were such key features to the suspense within older horror films. We just were so into it with the sounds queuing up something and how certain scenes set up frames within frames and make you look for “you don’t know what” edging you into fear and misdirection. Some of it felt heavily influenced by analog horror but knowing that there was also an ARG as the advertising for the movie I wasn’t too surprised. It’s all around just such an Experience watching this movie!
At first i didnt like the ending i think cuz i thought it explained things too heavy handily but after hearing your analysis its changed my perspective on it
Couple of mysteries: main characters moms fridges door has a kid like draw of five people holding hands... so wheres the dad? does she have a sister and brother? In the scene when her mom picks the shotgun as she sees the car arriving: is the man Longlengs? is it the husband? why do the two ladies love alone, away from wolves and anyone? whats up with that. Also why does Longlegs leave the letter at her house with the code? to help a little? if im counting right then Ruby would be victim number 13, then 14 would be the main character?
I’m not sure if this was intentional but I just so happened to have watched your tidelands video yesterday so it was still fresh on my mind. It’s interesting because you kind of had similar ideas on the theming of childhood trauma and what not. Which that perspective always speaks to me. I agree with everything you said about this movie I really liked it.
yaay, glad you liked it too! honestly, was the first horror movie in a LONG while that I walked away from thinking ‘huh that was like actually a good film’ and had nothing else to say regarding the quality of it.
wow okay you’ve described WHY I watch you and reviews like yours so I can see through many lenses! Thank you for putting words to the feeling…yup gonna go now and try not to be a super creep rn
I liked the film a lot, but I didn’t like it as much as I think I should and I’m not entire sure why. There’s something that just wasn’t working and I can’t put my finger on what it was. I’ll have to give it another watch I think.
I oscillate from loving him to hating him. But undoubtedly in his later career he’s definitely captured some evocative images (at the very least). Worth looking into that one.
You know, I get that everyone is like “omg NSFL iceberg” sorta brain rotted and clearly that audience hasn’t transitioned as well to the more “normal” nyx fears content but I found the channel through that and have just absolutely fallen in love with everything may has done outside of that
SPOILER - I think the stuff inside the balls is literally meant to be a sliver of longlegs's soul. It's a form of sympathetic magic: the doll represents the child, and the silver ball is longlegs, merging the two and allowing his influence into the house and over the child. When the film starts, I think the perspective is literally that of the doll in the backseat of longlegs's car. This is why longlegs says little bits of him are everywhere.
I don't understand why someone would watch your opinion and then complain about. I love your videos, TRASH is good sometimes but what trash we love is so personal, your opinions are always welcome, and I devour a ton of horror, and I devour your content, and your thoughts are of VALUE.
The videos are flowing! Omg MAY your the best! Thank you for yet ANOTHER video! I freaking am loving this ! Absolutely love all your reviews! Thank you for the feedback on an amazing movie! Definitely will be checking out this movie ❤️🔥
It was okay. Alicia Witt was great though. Ending was telegraphed at the beginning. We were watching it and saying what was going to happen, so i didn't like that
The fact that you clearly explained what you meant by “peak trash” IN the Terrifier 2 video AND people still didn’t understand… to the point that you had to reiterate it here… is buckwild to me.
I got to watch it twice, hoping to see it for a third time today. but the first time I saw it the theater had the volume on way too high. When she looked at that one photo and had a flashback it sounded like a bomb went off
The reason she wakes up from being comatose isn't because Longlegs visited! It's because they removed the crucifix that was nailed over her doll's hiding place. My boyfriend figured that one out. I also assumed it was because he visited.
I thought it was because they took the ball out of the head of the doll, but didn't destroy it. But also I also feel like it's one of those things where the movie knows how the magic works, but doesn't always tell us.
@@mistressofstones they never open that ball, it still whispers even when out of the head, AND the character controlled by the ball is STILL under its influence when they talk to her, she even says she’ll do anything for him still. If the ball was destroyed all influence would be gone.
you had me at dong legs. anyway great creepy film. aesthetically pleasing. id put it beneath black coats daughter though. i might have to watch it a second time alone just to immerse myself better. and as a fellow souls fan myself, theres something about osgood perkins style that kind of reminiscent of souls games. cryptic, vague, and obtuse characters with lingering ominous undertones.
Saw it at the Noon Matinee today & was quite impressed. Lucky for me I have to sit in the handicapped seats these days. Christ, I'm old! 😆 Beats walking up steps tho...
One cool thing about Oz Perkins is how he makes woman-centered horror stories that don't include sexual assault. As a female viewer, that's very refreshing.
Yes! 100%
Or romantic relationships
Love that
What a low bar we have to have 😂
@@carysbebard3690that's unfortunately the truth though
@@synesthesia.aesthetic Well, what’s wrong with including a romantic relationship? That is definitely not the same thing!
AND I WILL COME BAAACK
NOT OOONCE
NOT TWIIIICE
BUT AS MANY TIMES AS I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE 🎶
I have had this exact moment from the movie on repeat in my head ever since I saw it. It was so unexpected, but also so weirdly compelling and uncomfortable, but I just can’t stop thinking about it.
Masterpiece
DADDYYYYY
MOMMYYYYY
UUUUNMAKE MEEEE
@@jethroreading7168. What song was that? I didn’t recognize the lyrics
@@TrevyTrev-andTheFunkyPets It's something Longlegs scream-sings in the movie.
Nic looked like Marilyn Manson mixed with Mickey Rourke mixed with a powdered donut.
It was super distracting to me. I thought it was a plot point that he made a mask and wore it but when it was shown to be his face I was confused why it was so weird
He's supposed to be some old glam rock dude who at some point made a deal with the devil. Pretty much Marylin Manson, just after like 30 years and 20 botched plastic surgeries. He's like if Brian Warner was an "actually believes in satan" kind of satanist and not just an aging sex offender who continues to release music that's way below average when compared to his older work.
13:39 YES! Thank you for perfectly articulating why the "I wore my long legs today" line from the opening scene got *such* a reaction out of me
That line burrowed instantly under my skin and is still making me shiver uneasily
WOW I’ve watched at least 20 reviews and you’re the first person I’ve heard about childhood trauma making you shut down and be cold and repress memories of traumatic events. Doing my dishes and said ‘wowwwww’ out loud. Thank you, that’s a great key to interpreting the film.
The thesis of being forced to live with something you can't accept is also reflected on Longlegs himself. It's not lost on me that his possibly self inflicted cosmetic atrocities are a reflection of his work as a dollmaker. The dolls are meant to be a perfect personification of their targets with none of the flaws, none of the scars, none of the unpleasantness of living. He tries to accomplish the same for himself by becoming a living doll as best he can. He's just a vessel for someone else's perceived desires (Satan). And through malice or tragedy he's finally found a form of himself he can accept by Longlegs himself being accepted by Satan. He wants to spread that release of burden of trauma by indoctrinating other families into the mental freedom of surrendering yourself to Satan as a way out of the cycle of being forced to live with trauma.
I may be waaay off, but even if I am I love movies like this that are oozing with intentionality and have enough grissle to chew on to make it satisfying to dissect what is trying to be said.
I really appreciate your analysis here and the observation of his cosmetic features being a result of self dollification didn’t even occur to me! Bravo 👏
I haven't seen the movie yet, but I've been thinking constantly about Perkins saying he took from his own relationship with his mother and how she was hiding the fact that Anthony was gay and sleeping with men outside of their marriage from her kids. Which considering the fact that the tabloids found out Anthony Perkins had HIV before he did and Oz was a teenager at the time... Yeah, I can see that inspiration of childhood trauma and complicated family dynamics from how you described it.
i'll always remember my experience because i had horrible IBS and had to leave about three quarters of the way through (very bummed about this) but then i immediately found out that there had been an attempted assasination. wild experience 9/10
At the movies? Omg I’m glad you’re okay
They mean of the president
@@Skullkan6 Lmfaoooooo oh. Embarrassing…Ty for telling me
The true horror is that you're filming your thoughts on a horror movie with a door and window behind you and you don't have a single worry about being jumpscared. My need-to-see-all-entrances/exits anxiety that flares up after seeing a horror movie couldn't handle that
consider: they can see the door and window because of the recording viewfinder, giving her even more range of vision
consider: I live in the woods and am not paranoid of where I live.
i'm a weenie you see
saw this on a first date, theater was almost entirely sold out. we both loved it and we have another date thursday :)
Same homie
Lovelegs ❤️
ah!! i took my partner on a date to see this film too! thank u nick cage for the perfect date night film lol
Hell yeah
My dream first date, I really wish I could do that
For me, the "scares" in horror movies come much later... like months and even years later, and then it's more like a general "spooked" feeling... * shivers *
Da fuq
Kiernan coming back as yet another unhinged character who’s quiet and threatening at the same time is just a great addition
THANK-YOU. I thought I was going nuts being the only person thinking the stuff with the balls borrowed heavily from Twin Peaks: the return. Have seen literally NO ONE mentioning this.
OMG the Tulpa! I was thinking meditation ball/Phantasm ball? My friend and I were laughing thinking it was going to rise in the air, sprout blades and fly into someone's head! 😂
@@a_Cynthia_Main TBF if it was actually Tulpas and it worked like phantasm balls this movie would rule
@@KarlaBowdringAnd if Sam and Dean Winchester showed up that would be even BETTER
Not just the one trailer. Every teaser made for the film has been vague and creepy as hell. Making the hype around it that much more anticipated. And the ARG from the website made it even more intriguing.
Nic Cage knocks on your door, "Do you have a moment to discuss our dark lord and Satan?"
Yes- but imagine he would sing it- in falsetto!
Me, a raging Diabolist: ... I mean yea sure come on in.
Also i was pleasantly surprised to find the director was the nerdy guy in Legally Blonde
I couldn't help but compare Nicholas Cage's character with the antagonist from Mandy. Like Longlegs is the caliber of occult mastermind that Jeremiah Sand aspired to be, but failed.
He was originally ask to do the Jeremiah Sands
character.
I kinda wish that Linus Roache had played Longlegs, he would have absolutely nailed the character. Cage was OK, but he can't resist the urge to go crazy a little too quickly.
@@gnomefoam4299oh wow, that's a name I haven't heard for a long time I used to love his work!
there's this throughline in both Panów Cosmatos movies where antagonists are pathetic outcasts hiding behind false trappings of power. Longlegs is reverse externally pathetic but it hides a terryfying power
@@michakiewicz5674 That's a great observation!
first video of yours, not typically the type of content i search for but i’m instantly in love with ur whole deal haha. we will be binging
The sudden silent cut to the doll in the mirror has been burned into my brain from the very moment I saw the scene.
Ahh!! I'm so so happy you dug this movie too! The moment I came out of the theater after our goodbye kiss from Longlegs I was vibrating with my friends over how much I had such a great time. You nailed so much of why I loved this movie and was happy to see a full theater for a horror movie (nature is healing)
Holy heck the Elden Ring video and this in the same week? You spoil us May!
Watched it for my birthday. Which was on the 14th 😀 That was a fun surprise!
The start of the movie was so good, I was so excited to watch it, but towards the end it lost me. Idk, I guess the beginning made me expect something different
I stopped this video, then planned a trip to my local theater. I watched it today and loved it. It’s the first time in a while that a horror movie held my attention so much and also made my heart race.
Same
Been watching May's videos since March 2017. Good analysis, thoughtful, real, and a reserved enthusiastic energy. If there has been any change in all these years it has been from an nervous energy to a confident energy. Those pandemic videos got me through when I still had to go to work.
Concerning this video, great video as always. Thanks.
I went to see Longlegs and there was a group of five rowdy boys trying to buy tickets to my screening, but when they got tickets for the later screening they exclaimed “LET’S GOOOO!”. Longlegs fever isn’t just sweeping the nation, it’s sweeping internationally.
Deeeefinitely turned to my roomie when the first scene wrapped up and said "we're about to see something special", so I relate to that for sure, but I am about to diverge in a sec (maybe in a way that directs some of that heat to me, who knows!) ... The interpretation of the horror in this movie as a stand in for child hood trauma, that rings really fucking true, and I didn't make that connection. That meaningful process, or maybe process of making meaning, whatever, I think really saves this movie from, potential hot take #1, Longlegs just being another vehicle for Nic Cage to be whackadoodle. I never did lose the sense that I was watching something special here, but I did wind up leaving thinking that this movie had been overhyped to audiences like me who are rabidly devouring horror offerings left and right. In that respect, maybe I just need to take a break from the constant content mill and I'd be able to appreciate it more. But I also think it is worth saying that, if this movie DIDN'T have Nic Cage, we would not, collectively, be forgiving it the very silliest choices of its characters or its knowing winks at us through the 4th wall. I think we would be alot more critical. But it's Nic, so we don't. Osgood Perkins has really proven himself, on basically every conceivable level, as a storyteller, director, the lot, and especially when it comes to a good spook. It's one of the reasons I ignored the rumors comparing it to Silence of the Lambs, and swallowed the initial gut reaction I had to the sussy gender performance in that first scene; I trust Perkins not to do me dirty, and he didn't betray the trust. But as others have pointed out, this movie is in conversation with Mandy (and SotL) and the satanic panic era, and what you're saying about the idea of the devil having door to door missionaries, I think this is more of a key to getting the movie than it first appears. This really does play like a kind of idle joke or funny improv scenario you imagine to yourself for a chuckle, suddenly invested with good budget and star power, but is more clever than it is deep, more craftsmanship than art. I liked it, a great deal, but I can't find it moving in any regard, much like the only thing that struck me as even a little "scary" was whether I was going to have to endure Cage's interpretation of Buffalo Bill. How much of that is due to having processed my own trauma differently is anyone's guess. But this brings Perkins, for me, closer to Ti West than I would have hoped in that, hottest of takes, Ti West fully embodies to me the auteur "oh I have seen so many movies and I can reference them beautifully while telling bleak stories about people it's almost impossible to care about doing nothing worth mentioning for hours". For me, filmmakers like him are the problem, and not Blumhouse, and I know Perkins is a hell of a lot better than that. I very much hope we don't wind up remembering Longlegs as his best work as the years go on, and I'd leave it there, while still admitting it was a damn fun time in the theater.
The biggest theme that I haven't seen almost anyone else discuss or interpret this way is the historical treatment of people on the autism spectrum. I mean, Harker seems very evidently neurodivergent, and to then reveal her to be "demon possessed" seems intentional.
Interesting to note for absolutely no reason: severe childhood trauma can also manifest with autism-like symptoms.
I liked the individual elements of the movie but it just did not hang together for me. After the beginning of the movie, the reveal of the mechanism of murder being evil dolls with devil balls was was, I think, a bridge too far for me to follow lol
Same here when the movie ended I thought "that's it? Huh."
the ending retroactively made the movie less effective in its uneasiness to me. it just felt silly.
Yeah, when the spooky remote psychic murders turned into “actually he had an accomplice who dressed as a nun, drove a really conspicuous car into the suburbs, carried a giant package into the murder house, watched the murders happen, and then emerged, blood-covered, in the middle of the day to drive her blue beetle away” it deflated basically all of the tension. It made the supposedly mindhunter level psychic FBI super squad look completely incompetent. Like even ignoring the spooky doll element, the FBI never canvassed the neighborhood to ask about suspicious persons? I mean, I don’t know, I understand the movie wasn’t About that, but like, the more things were explained, the stupider it got. I was actually mad leaving the theater cos it was like “well that was a fuckin waste of my time”
But I do like the cinematography, I thought the sound work was incredible, Maika Monroe was carrying the whole movie so hard I thought I was going to have a panic attack in sympathy with her. I enjoyed Nic Cage’s performance, too, but it did feel a little Buffalo Bill-esque, like they never SAID the character was trans or trans adjacent but boy was it implied. Felt kinda regressive in a way I didn’t like.
I mean at least the movie made me feel things, even if it was mostly anger and frustration lol
I agree, I was much more intrigued in the first half-ish when it was more of a serial killer mystery
I'm with you. I was so so excited to see this movie, and I was so disappointed when I did. There were so many great elements to it, and Maika Monroe's performance was fantastic and her character was fascinating, but it was all in service of a story that was just too silly or too nothing to care about.
omg it’s so exciting for me to see you’ve uploaded only 20 mins ago? i literally went and saw the movie last night on an impulse with my sister and her gf and it was such a ride.. the visuals were so good, as was the soundtrack. it had fantastic framing shots and it just felt so eerie, like it was getting under your skin. im not even finished watching this vid yet lol (6 mins in), but i just wanted to say im so thrilled to see u upload a video on it :] !
Never commented before, but just want to say I really enjoy your objective approach to talking about... anything. I realized this when I was watching your Elden Ring video and I don't give a single fuck about those games but it was just interesting to hear you talk about them. I'm super glad you're back to making videos regularly, and I pretty much enjoy everything you create. Please continue!
this was so insightful and you managed to get so much across in a short amount of time. def my favorite so far.
Oh my gorn, the legs are elongated dooooongs?
I watched this movie and half-way through I knew this was a story about a person who convinces people to kill through hypnotic suggestion.
I felt that because that was the plot of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s CURE, which was released back in 1997.
Saw this yesterday and so excited you just released this. Incredible.
7 min into the video and i’m getting scared again like i wanna cry. that movie dug into my bones
I'm watching this as i leave the theater, been waiting all week so I can hear your review after seeing it first!
I started this video a lil bit after it came out, so I could see your intro, cause I love your takes at the beginning, and I was gonna go see it today.
I just got home from seeing it, and oh man, I know exactly what you mean by always remembering where you were when you saw it. That sure was a movie lol. Like a really good movie, but *a movie*
I'm so ready for your analysue
Holy shit. Mays music is honestly really, really good. It gives me such a 2005 mindless self indulgence vibe in the best way possible
When I first saw Nick Cage I was like “oh no it’s doing the killer in drag thing that would be catastrophic for the biggest horror movie of the year to have that” but I guess he was just supposed to look pale and creepy. I doubt this was Perkins plan but I hope the Satan obsessed bigot crowd doesn’t get ahold of this movie
Was lucky to go to a screening that Perkins did a Q&A at after, apparently Nic's look was meant to give botched plastic surgery vibes.
I found that his pale face is less like drag and more like he's painting himself to resemble a doll bc he too is also a vessel for Satan to channel through.
the way he’s talked abt Longlegs (the character) in interviews, I’ve seen him use ‘he/she’ pronouns (like ‘he/she is rly pale’) and say stuff like Longlegs has both male/female energy, but also is based on his mom like w that high voice (‘ohh! there she is! the almost birthday girl!’)
I’m still digesting the notion, but I’d be down for a bigender serial killer character. Cage never used words like ‘bigender,’ ‘trans,’ etc in interviews and Longlegs’ gender/presentation doesn’t seem to be overtly relevant anyway, so I think it’s fine?
@@rotisseriepossum yeah I mean as a drag performer I lowkey love the killer in drag trope (I’ve done a Norman Bates number lol) I just think with everything going on it’s kind of perilous territory
@@callum6123You have a good point and I don't think people are ready to acknowledge it. 2024 isn't really in a place where it's responsible to have LGBTA+ villains in the mainstream.
I still cringe every time the community recommends rocky horror as an introduction to the uninitiated cishet, because two hours later it's followed up with "wtf Dr. Frank-n-Furter literally SAs the protagonists and people love this guy? This movie isn't about sexual liberation, it's really predatory!"
It's a movie made by a transphobe. Like Sleepaway Camp, it is NOT something you put on for someone who's not neck deep in the culture and ready to digest it for what it is.
I'm not trying to make a "don't scare the cishets they're such pearl clutchers" argument, just pointing out a safety concern for people who don't accurately read the atmosphere. Be careful when reinforcing stereotypes around people already susceptible to them hhhhhh
Thonglegs
It was so satisfying to watch Longlegs. I had such a great experience with the film. The acting was good, the film making was good, there were themes that were theme-ing. I loved that it ended with the T. Rex song playing over the credits--it was like the film was saying that was a fun experience wasn't it? Like it didn't take itself too seriously, just told the story it wanted to tell and did it well.
Is it time again to immediately stop what I was doing and watch May's new video? Yes!
Am I writing this before watching this? Yes. Have a nice day everyone as we're watching this together!
From the second I saw the T. Rex quote, and heard “Jewel” by the very same band, I knew I was going to love everything that proceeded. I was absolutely correct, this was the best horror movie I’ve ever seen in my 32 years of life.
I was mad I had to wait until it was on steaming to have a full review and thoughts on it, thank you for your photographic memory!
“look at blumhouse”
*flashback to the goofy creature in Infinity Pool*
I really enjoyed this film and was also super excited to see it. I loved the main character, the acting, the tone and atmosphere, the cinematography and sound design, even the underlying themes.
However... For someone who adores and often watches surreal, intticate stuff, this is like the third time in my whole life where I left thinking "damn... I don't get it?." Like yeah, I think I understand the themes and symbolism, but the last 15 minutes legit made me go "...why." Why presenting the metaphors this way? Why now? I wanted to understand!
The ending grew on me quite a lot after a few days, but I think this film would've packed a bigger punch with a more "direct" approach to its themes towards the end, like The Babadook, Pearl, Crash, etc. Like you say, it is a very well done horror film, but it could've been life-changing to me if they fleshed out the themes more, in a conclusive way.
I wasn't blown away but i did like it. Anyone else think Cage played Longlegs like an evil Emo Phillips?
Nic eats every peice of scenery in SIGHT! Its AWESOME. And if a new generation learns to love T.Rex, thats a huge bonus!
Donglegs would be one hell of a song title
Loving the tunes lately.
Speaking of Twin Peaks: The Return - Alicia Witt is the mom aka Gersten Hayward.
PERFECT TIMING i literally just got out of the cinema after seeing this movie and i loved it!!! i immediately want to rewatch it where i can pause it
i loved how incredibly carefully this film was put together, and how well acted it was. idk if other ppl get the feeling that lee hawker was meant to be autistic but as a neurodivergent person i found a lot of her mannerisms and acting to be very relatable
i was also surprised by the appearance of nick cage and damn!!!! he was really giving it everything!!!
yes! also autistic and related to her heavily
I think Carrie Anne Camera came out of catatonia because her doll was freed and the head was broken open. However, the Twin Peaks esque metal ball inside was unbroken, meaning she probably doesn't remember what happened to her parents and has only a positive perception of Long Legs. He's the only person who came to visit her up to that point as well.
As long as her ball remains unbroken, she won't have those memories of how her parents died.
Also, did anyone else notice that the coroner said he heard the ball calling his ex-wife's name? Ruth was probably affected by being near Long Legs, but the ball didn't exert the same control over her. The demon in the vessel of the ball likely only affects adult men (even if the coroner was never a target).
They said in the dialogue that they opened the ball and nothing was inside. I only got that thought because I've seen the movie twice now.
And yes that was so creepy when he said it said his ex wife's name
@@mistressofstones You're right! I remember now. She probably came out of her catatonia when the ball was broken.
Anyone who liked Longlegs who hasn't seen Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure should watch Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure.
Saw it last night, and still have it rattling around my brain . Thought what May articulated- that it takes a bunch of hackyned tropes and makes something interesting
That’s so funny I had the same exact theatrical experience. I was doing a Movie Day where I spend all day at the theater and Longlegs was my last movie, and I was shocked when I went to get my ticket and it was nearly sold out. I ended up in the front row, all the way at the end, with the one chair in the whole theater that couldn’t recline. I was sitting in such a bad angle the whole time and everything on the screen was skewed. I might go see it a second time so I can like actually appreciate the cinematography lol
Fell asleep halfway through the second part then woke up for the jump scare 11/10
I always appreciate and enjoy your thoughts. Please keep making videos! ❤️
I was hyped for this movie, but I walked out after 45 minutes. Turns out the whole concept of the murders was genuinely too upsetting for me as the mother of a daughter. If that makes me a weenie, so be it, I guess. Walking out was an oddly empowering experience though, like I was telling myself I don't have to sit through something that is making me uncomfortable. So anyway I fall into category 3, people who walked out but want to know how it ends 😂😂
Don’t ever try watching Schindler’s list as a parent. I only saw a few scenes and the ones with kids absolutely broke me and I even ran into the bathroom throwing up being so upset
hyped to come back to this once I've watched it 🙏 always love seeing another Spooky Movie Review from MAY ❤️
Honestly, my partner and I had such a blast watching Longlegs. I’ve been slowly getting him to watch old horror slashers like Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I’ll explain how cinematography and sound design were such key features to the suspense within older horror films. We just were so into it with the sounds queuing up something and how certain scenes set up frames within frames and make you look for “you don’t know what” edging you into fear and misdirection. Some of it felt heavily influenced by analog horror but knowing that there was also an ARG as the advertising for the movie I wasn’t too surprised. It’s all around just such an Experience watching this movie!
At first i didnt like the ending i think cuz i thought it explained things too heavy handily but after hearing your analysis its changed my perspective on it
i also got heavy twin peaks s3 vibes from it lol
especially the metal orb with the demon smoke
Couple of mysteries: main characters moms fridges door has a kid like draw of five people holding hands... so wheres the dad? does she have a sister and brother? In the scene when her mom picks the shotgun as she sees the car arriving: is the man Longlengs? is it the husband? why do the two ladies love alone, away from wolves and anyone? whats up with that. Also why does Longlegs leave the letter at her house with the code? to help a little? if im counting right then Ruby would be victim number 13, then 14 would be the main character?
Goddamm, I just love the enthusiasm of these videos!
I think you helped me realize a bigger thing in part of why I'm extra broken.
Nick cage was nick caging and it made me laugh out loud in the theater specifically during the scene in the interrogation room
I laughed when I saw his name in the credits and then abruptly stopped laughing as soon as he came onscreen lol
@@t3hpenguinofd00m yea I had to stop that laughing shit real quick
I’m not sure if this was intentional but I just so happened to have watched your tidelands video yesterday so it was still fresh on my mind. It’s interesting because you kind of had similar ideas on the theming of childhood trauma and what not. Which that perspective always speaks to me. I agree with everything you said about this movie I really liked it.
I can't wait to hear a pretty internet lady tell me about some shit I've never seen
yaay, glad you liked it too! honestly, was the first horror movie in a LONG while that I walked away from thinking ‘huh that was like actually a good film’ and had nothing else to say regarding the quality of it.
Group three of viewers are people like me who are sensory disabled and cannot always know what is happening on screen
Blessed May uploads, I am well fed this winter.
wow okay you’ve described WHY I watch you and reviews like yours so I can see through many lenses! Thank you for putting words to the feeling…yup gonna go now and try not to be a super creep rn
I liked the film a lot, but I didn’t like it as much as I think I should and I’m not entire sure why. There’s something that just wasn’t working and I can’t put my finger on what it was. I’ll have to give it another watch I think.
I also didnt know Nick cage was in the movie until I was in the theater and that was possibly the highlight of my viewing experience
nic cage really ate and left no crumbs in this movie... my jaw was on the floooor
Bean Supreme loves you Nyx
Oooo I really like the end credits song!!!
Dude, your breakdown made me like the movie even more❤
May have you ever covered any of Matthew Barney’s works? Specifically interested in your take on River of Fundament
Didn’t he make those terrible and lazy Cremaster movies that he sold for like a comical amount of money?
@@nyxfears he did! I just saw all of them in theater for a retrospective, they’re occasionally breathtaking lol
I oscillate from loving him to hating him. But undoubtedly in his later career he’s definitely captured some evocative images (at the very least). Worth looking into that one.
You know, I get that everyone is like “omg NSFL iceberg” sorta brain rotted and clearly that audience hasn’t transitioned as well to the more “normal” nyx fears content but I found the channel through that and have just absolutely fallen in love with everything may has done outside of that
SPOILER -
I think the stuff inside the balls is literally meant to be a sliver of longlegs's soul. It's a form of sympathetic magic: the doll represents the child, and the silver ball is longlegs, merging the two and allowing his influence into the house and over the child. When the film starts, I think the perspective is literally that of the doll in the backseat of longlegs's car. This is why longlegs says little bits of him are everywhere.
that’s dead on, and with the care to detail in this film-this explains the fuzzy focus
I saw the movie up close to the screen too, this movie really scared me. Loved it
if you watch this movie in ultra-high quality, you can see the teeth marks from where Nic Cage is chewing the scenery.
I don't understand why someone would watch your opinion and then complain about. I love your videos, TRASH is good sometimes but what trash we love is so personal, your opinions are always welcome, and I devour a ton of horror, and I devour your content, and your thoughts are of VALUE.
The videos are flowing! Omg MAY your the best! Thank you for yet ANOTHER video! I freaking am loving this ! Absolutely love all your reviews! Thank you for the feedback on an amazing movie! Definitely will be checking out this movie ❤️🔥
It was okay. Alicia Witt was great though. Ending was telegraphed at the beginning. We were watching it and saying what was going to happen, so i didn't like that
The fact that you clearly explained what you meant by “peak trash” IN the Terrifier 2 video AND people still didn’t understand… to the point that you had to reiterate it here… is buckwild to me.
Just got out the theater excited to finish this video
I got to watch it twice, hoping to see it for a third time today. but the first time I saw it the theater had the volume on way too high. When she looked at that one photo and had a flashback it sounded like a bomb went off
girl the bolan poster in his room
WHY DOES IT SAY "DONGLEGS" I THOUGHT THIS WAS A DIFFERENT MOVIE BUT WITH DONGS AS LEGS 😭😭
TY! I came down here to say the same. I'm 2 1/2 minutes in, and it's all I can think about! WHAT DOES IT MEAN?! lol
YAYYY i just got out of the cinema and loved it so glad to hear some good discussions :)
Omg is that Rebecca from worlds fair ?!! Huge fan !
The reason she wakes up from being comatose isn't because Longlegs visited! It's because they removed the crucifix that was nailed over her doll's hiding place. My boyfriend figured that one out. I also assumed it was because he visited.
No, it's because they opened the silver ball I think, that changed the lead character too
@@mistressofstonesno they never did open the metal ball, thats why longlegs had power over her, and why she ended up jumping at the end
I thought it was because they took the ball out of the head of the doll, but didn't destroy it. But also I also feel like it's one of those things where the movie knows how the magic works, but doesn't always tell us.
@@mistressofstones they never open that ball, it still whispers even when out of the head, AND the character controlled by the ball is STILL under its influence when they talk to her, she even says she’ll do anything for him still. If the ball was destroyed all influence would be gone.
@@tape-6 exactly! She outrightly states that she’s still fully controlled by the devil even though she’s been released from her comatose state.
you had me at dong legs. anyway great creepy film. aesthetically pleasing. id put it beneath black coats daughter though. i might have to watch it a second time alone just to immerse myself better.
and as a fellow souls fan myself, theres something about osgood perkins style that kind of reminiscent of souls games. cryptic, vague, and obtuse characters with lingering ominous undertones.
love the b&w. I've watched a few critiques of this movie and i'll def check it out. Renfield was my nick cage turnaround movie.
watch mandy if you haven't!
Saw it at the Noon Matinee today & was quite impressed.
Lucky for me I have to sit in the handicapped seats these days. Christ, I'm old! 😆 Beats walking up steps tho...
Yes!!! I kept making Twin Peaks connections as well