Film Review: Longlegs

Longlegs is the latest film to be added to the list of movies I've spoiled for my therapist. I wish she was more of a movie lover so that she would see things at a similar time as me, but if there's one thing I've learned from her it's that you can't change people, so as they say in Rugrats in Paris, c'est la vie! 

This is the story of psychic FBI agent Lee Harker, who is pulled onto a case that revolves around a series of murders that seem to be happening without the murderer ever being in the house. Fathers are killing families. Coded notes are found at the scene of the crimes. However, any source of unusual DNA is not found, leading Harker to begin brainstorming how this could be by reflecting on past popular cases leading to the line, "Manson had accomplices, he had family."

Family is a dark source of anxiety for Harker, a daughter of a single mom who relentlessly begs her to come home more adn asks if she says her prayers. As Harker begins to put together the pieces of the case, she's also forced to investigate her past.

When watched through a therapeutic lens, you start to see Oz Perkins weave a story of how it feels to come to terms with childhood trauma and how it's affected you. Disassociation and the acknowledgment of memories your brain pushed away to keep you safe parallels well for me with the doll who "told Harker where to look" so that she wouldn't be able to understand the evil happening around her. Her psychic abilities deriving from the devil dolls doubling as a hindrance in some ways and a superpower in others, much like hyper vigilance can be for those who needed it to survive when they were young. Despite what was or wasn't held in her present memory, it was there in her body, it kept the score. Her own family trying to ignore the bad and convince her it didn't happen because they can't handle it or their part in it themselves. We could wonder if Harker even became an FBI agent in the first place because she spent her whole childhood potentially wondering what was going on around her, trying to connect the dots on an absent father, a mother who is difficult to connect with and a God she's afraid to pray to who clearly doesn't save. This is the case of her life.

When watched through a horror movie lens, it's simply scary.

In the end, Harker's gun is unable to fire at the little girl's doll in the living room meaning she'll have to carry the effects of this with her, but she also won't be able to remember what surely would've been the worst day of her life. Maybe this is good, maybe Harker is protecting her. Or, maybe she's repeating the cycle of selfish saving? Or maybe, it's just the devil.