Is “Longlegs” scary? – Book and Film Globe

The release of a critically acclaimed horror film could herald the introduction of any number of new creepy crawlies or nightmarish characters into the collective consciousness. We never know exactly what good horror will bring us in that regard. But one thing to come to terms with with a popular horror release is the most pointless question of all. “Is the film scary?” Longlegs, the new crime thriller from writer-director Oz Perkins, hit theaters nationwide this weekend, and the debate rages on.

Aside from jokes about the length of bipedal limbs, discussion in the dank halls of Film Twitter ranged from initial enthusiasm for “longlegs” to questions about what even constitutes “scary,” with references to older films like “Rosemary’s Baby.”

Does “scary” just mean “jump scare” to some people? Some comments read: “It’s not scary, but it fills you with an unbearable fear that keeps you awake for two days.” https://t.co/0945BX1XZI

— Vanessa McKee (@vmenendezb) July 12, 2024

Some of these reactions to longlegs are so confusing. Some tweets said something like, “So the movie isn’t that bad, but there’s an intense layer of dread and unstoppable evil throughout the entire runtime that gets under your skin.”

Isn’t that what’s scary? That sounds scary to me!

— Will (@SilentDawnLB) July 11, 2024

Rosemary Baby is one of those horror movies that stays in your mind after watching it, which in my opinion makes it scary

– Jon Palmer (@jon_palmer4133) July 13, 2024

First, let’s get this clear. Longlegs has an incredible sense of foreboding, backed up by a chilling performance from Nicolas Cage. It leaves you with a desperate feeling of emptiness. But does even that assessment answer the question of whether the film is “scary”? As with most things, it depends on the audience.

I review horror movies. If I judged their quality solely on whether or not they really scared me, there would be hardly any horror movies that I consider good. Why should I, a horror movie lover, subject my favorite genre to such a strict litmus test to earn my praise? That’s not even the point of horror movies.

So where does this question come from? It comes from immature self-promoters who want to be the arbiters of what “true horror” is. “This isn’t scary. If you think this is scary, you should watch _____.” The horror community doesn’t need this kind of access control. It’s tedious and rarely a compass that will lead you somewhere you haven’t been before.

For God’s sake, people, stop using “I didn’t find it scary” as an excuse for whether or not you like the movie. You’re not eight anymore.

— Lee McCoy (@Drumdums) July 12, 2024

If we ask this question at all, we should ask it in the service of those who do not venture into the depths of the genre and are on the other side of the horror spectrum. “Is Longlegs scary for the average viewer?” The answer is more likely “yes,” but is that still important in terms of what is good? If we’re talking about the average moviegoer, getting the audience in their seats seems to be more important.

The horror marketing playbook works like this these days: There’s the teaser of a teaser, followed by the teaser, and then the teaser of the trailer. And finally, there’s the trailer. The trailer includes short comments from critics after screenings at film festivals. These short comments always seem to be competing to best prepare you for an experience that will seemingly shatter your psyche and somehow kill your dog. Take, for example, the short comments on the trailer for Longlegs.

“The scariest movie of the decade.” And “Damn scary. A must-see.” (Both from the same publication.) The team at Neon put together a fantastic gorilla marketing campaign full of cryptic iconography and even has published a video as a marketing stunt that saw star Maika Monroe’s heart rate rise when she saw co-star Cage in full makeup for the first time. That kind of suspense sets expectations that few, if any, films live up to. Sensible horror fans can take all of this with a grain of salt. We’ll watch the film anyway. Teens looking for thrills and with no idea what the genre can do in the hands of a director like Perkins, however, will devour it and bemoan their shattered psyches by the end of the 101-minute runtime.

Reducing the entire genre to a cheap thrill probably leads to easy ticket sales. That’s fine for the studios, but it traps horror fans in a never-ending cycle of hype that risks perfectly good films failing. Want to know what’s really scary? The prospect that films that focus on creating a tense atmosphere and the subtleties of the macabre might fade into obscurity simply because they don’t get people’s pulses racing enough.