LongLegs is eerie and unsettling. If you scare easily, your best advice is to see the film when the sun is out and when it ends, the sun will still be shining.

Neon’s highly anticipated horror release, Long Legs, puts a fresh spin on the small-town satanic narratives we’ve seen before, drawing inspiration from classics like Silence of the Lambs and Zodiac.

In LongLegs, we are introduced to Agent Lee Harker, played by the talented Maika Monroe (It Follows). As one of our latest scream queens, Monroe’s portrayal of Harker breaks new ground in the case more effectively than any predecessors. Set in the ’90s, Long Legs has been killing families since the ’70s. The chilling twist? He’s never in the room. How has someone who’s been killing for decades managed to avoid capture and presence at the crime scenes? Monroe’s performance is nuanced, sometimes hinting at a possible disorder like autism or Asperger’s, though the film never explicitly states this. Blair Underwood shines as her boss, delivering a performance that reminds us why he’s been a fan favorite for so long. It’s refreshing to see him play a down-on-his-luck cop who finds solace in a stiff drink after a long day.

Nicolas Cage stars as the film’s villain and title character, LongLegs. Almost unrecognizable under the prosthetics, Cage is doing something we’ve never seen before, which is ironic because we’ve seen him do almost everything.

The film’s standout feature is the direction by Oz Perkins. Perkins masterfully uses negative space to draw viewers into the unsettling atmosphere. You know something is amiss, but you can’t quite pinpoint it, which keeps you on edge. When Maika Monroe’s character is on screen, her focused and intense presence allows us to delve deep into her psyche. We join her in piecing together the mystery, always anticipating the unexpected. The suspense is palpable—you’re never sure if someone will appear behind her or not, and this unpredictability keeps the tension high. LongLegs ominously declares, “pieces of him are everywhere,” leaving you feeling like he could be anywhere and everywhere at once.

For the first two acts of the film, broken up into three parts, the film reads as a mystery, a puzzle for the detectives and the audience to figure out. By this point, I made a few accurate predictions, and by the third act, the supernatural element is introduced. This third act is the final 40 minutes of the film, where it fizzles out. The supernatural element feels a bit like a cop-out, and you can guess the big secret behind LongLegs.

LongLegs echoes the classic saying, “The devil made me do it,” wrapping its narrative in suspense and psychological thrills. The film’s ability to keep you guessing, combined with stellar performances and meticulous direction, makes it a noteworthy addition to the horror genre, despite its final act’s shortcomings.