I feel it’s a little pointless to review this movie as you can find so many takes on the film, some decent, others brilliant.* The other reason it’s pointless—at least for a reviewer like moi who hates giving away spoilers**— is because to discuss the film, you have to discuss the entire film, including the key reveals.

So, what can I say? I can tell you what the film is about—although even this is a fraught task. Simply put, Longlegs is the story of two FBI agents trying to piece together the mystery behind several murders, where a loving father will slaughter his family for no apparent reason. Left behind each murder scene is a series of sigils (a code of some sort) and the name Longlegs. No DNA evidence exists suggesting that anyone other than the family was in the house.

The whole film has a dead, affectless tone, helped along by a startling performance from Maika Monroe, the FBI Agent who decodes Longlegs’ messages and his intent. Blair Underwood is also understated as Monroe’s boss. Alicia Witt is terrific as Monroe’s mother, and Kiernan Shipka does an amazing turn as one of the few (or is it only) survivors of Longlegs reign of death and mayhem. And then there’s Nicholas Cage. He is a splash of violent, unhinged weirdness in a bland, beige world. That he barely features in the film makes the scenes he’s in all the more vivid and memorable.

 I do have reservations about Longlegs. I’m not sure the plot holds together once a particular reveal is made in the latter part of the film. It makes sense thematically if you believe that Longlegs is a movie about the things we refuse to see (because they’re painful or traumatic), even if it’s staring us in the face. But it requires a stretched, willing suspension of disbelief to make that work in the real world. To say more would, of course, take us into a territory I’m unwilling to enter. So, I’ll leave it there.

 But, whatever my issues are, I would certainly recommend this film. It’s creepy and strange without relying on jump scares or gore. And it’s provocative and layered, moreso than most movies you’ll likely see this year or any year.

*Adam Fleming Petty brilliantly argues that Longlegs is Osgood Perkins’s attempt to come to terms with his relationship with his father, Anthony Perkins.

**I can hear the pro-spoiler crowd telling me to grow up already. But I can’t do it. I won’t give away the significant reveals or climax of a film, even if it means affecting the quality of the review.