Note: This review contains spoilers below. Long legs.
“Are you still praying? Our prayers protect us from the devil.”
Osgood Perkins’ latest horror film Long legs The story of FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) pursuing a serial killer with ties to the occult, the film relies on horrifying aesthetics and thrills, but ultimately presents a portrayal of Satanism and nihilistic spirituality that leaves both the film and the audience feeling unfulfilled as the end credits roll. This negative space confirms our essential yearning for justice, and the deeply human idea that good must not only suppress but ultimately triumph over evil. Yet in the film’s dystopian world, that victory proves impossible.
Long legsThe first two acts of are promising, containing clues as to just how demonic Longlegs is, and mastering the art of suspenseful curiosity. During Harker’s investigation, she finds a cross left by Longlegs, which Longlegs claims is “the place marked by an X.” It makes sense that a satanic horror movie would distort the cross and Christian devotion in a creepy way that is devoid of true Christian morality and spiritual power. And it certainly contributes to well-composed imagery that suits the film’s eerie atmosphere.
This story begins: Zodiac (2007) and Hereditary (2018) Also, Get inspired Silence of the Lambs (1991) combines crime tropes with a supernatural aesthetic. The story of a young girl’s encounter with the titular villain (played brilliantly by Nicolas Cage) is shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio, with its grainy film and vintage feel that immediately draws the audience in and sets the tone for the next 100 minutes of eerie experience. Andres Aroche’s cinematography uses shadow and white space in every dimly lit frame to evoke a near-constant dread that no one is safe. As for Monroe and Cage, they both give gripping performances at opposite ends of the acting spectrum, the former sensitively playing a vulnerable FBI agent and the latter flamboyant and unashamed about his character’s weirdness.
As the film progresses, Harker learns that the suspect is a devil worshipper and doll maker. One particularly striking scene is when Harker tries to solidify his “hunch” – a childhood memory of being attacked by Longlegs – that Longlegs is a serial killer and must be taken into custody. However, Agent Browning (Michelle Choi Lee) counters that devil worship is not a crime in the United States.
As a crime thriller and religious horror film, Long legs He is interested in aesthetics but (probably) unaware of his own theological claims.
Horror fans may agree with Agent Browning and argue that devil worship is not a crime in the horror genre. Christians may also find the film intriguing. Long legs‘s Satanism is unrealistic in positing a world in which the best defense against hell is a scared cop with a gun. Harker’s mother, Ruth (Alicia Witt), the film’s only religious character, frequently expresses concern about her daughter’s communion with God, but the quiet, perpetually anxious Harker is preoccupied with the darkest incident of her career and uninterested in two activities that could have enhanced her victory over the Longlegs: Bible reading and prayer.
I don’t expect a happy, heartwarming ending from a horror movie, but… Long legs The film ends without any justice or closure for what Harker and the other victims of Long Legs went through. Horror is often used to confront us with the harsh realities of life. Long legs, In reality, serial killers often get away with anything, and Satanism appears to have more power than we think. Long legs They are desperately trying to cover up the truth of Christianity with bloody sheets.
One of my favorite religious horror movies The Conjuring (2013). Not only is it a modern classic of the genre, it also ends with a successful exorcism, the devil’s grip loosened and a bleak situation turned to hope. Long legs And like a movie The Conjuring It’s unfortunate that the film portrays religion as a madman’s respite, a hapless battle against an invincible enemy. (The film’s disappointing third act reveals that Ruth, a once devout Christian, is an accomplice to a Satanist murderer, delivering a demonically possessed doll to families so they can kill each other.) Long legsthe world of, Satan always answers prayers, but God (if he exists) remains silent and resigned, unable to counter the power of the Devil’s puppet maker.
It is fundamental to assume that a world in which the Devil has true supernatural power is also a world in which God has at least as much power. Artists throughout history have depicted the cosmic struggle between God and the Devil and the eventual “War in Heaven.” still Long legs It strangely avoids this, resulting in a disappointing third act.
When Harker finds out that his mother is involved in the Long Legs series of murders, he rushes to the house of his next victim. By the time he arrives, Ruth has already given the demon doll to the family, waiting patiently for them to get hold of it and go on a killing spree. Harker’s reaction is fitting for her character: she stands there stunned and hyperventilating while Agent Carter (Blair Underwood) kills his wife. He turns to her daughter, Ruby (Eva Kelders), but Harker kills him first. After a heated exchange with Ruth, Harker kills her mother next, dismayed but putting a stop to the bloodbath that follows (it’s a glaring plot hole that Harker didn’t destroy the doll to break the curse, as he did his childhood doll earlier in the film). Thus, the film’s only religious character dies with a bullet hole in his head, a cross covered, and a cross on display.
In the end, prayer doesn’t save the day, in fact it doesn’t save the day, and justice doesn’t come to the true demonic power. With his dying breath, Harker lowers his gun and beckons Ruby, the only survivor in the house, to come with him. As Lee Harker studies Ruby’s expression, I wonder if she could have done more, and if her rescue only thwarts the demon’s plans so he can continue to haunt others.
The end credits will roll.
The imbalance of spiritual power depicted in the film serves the film’s purposes, and indeed ends up with a rather haunting, dark, and pure Satanism. But it also serves to deepen our curiosity: If the Devil and other demonic forces really do have such powers, what can we do to defeat them? Is our only hope a fighting chance at gunning them down from their physical manifestations – further depictions of violence steeped in unfounded moral reasoning? Or will evil itself ever be defeated?
The Christian story answers these questions in a way that acknowledges the power of the devil, yet satisfies our deepest desire for justice and goodness to prevail. It may not be so obvious in our modern materialistic world, but it is true that “we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against cosmic powers that rule over this darkness, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, ESV). Long legs You are right in that respect. Satan is powerful, but our sovereign God will ultimately deal a fatal blow to evil and Satan, whether we pray to him or not. “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet,” the apostle Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 1:14).Romans 16:20). in Sermons on this verseJohn Piper says that “those who see every struggle as a hand-to-hand battle with the devil” should remember the words of Paul and the great reformer Martin Luther: “His wrath is bearable; behold, His fate is certain.”
Long legsInstead, Satan’s reign We are convinced that all we can do is abandon prayer and start shooting bullets at the problem. It is no wonder that we feel deceived by this conclusion. Long legs While claiming that we have no recourse in the struggle against the powers of the universe, Christians throughout history have Nowhere else To look only to Christ, who will not merely thwart but truly subdue all evil. When Jesus asked his disciples if they would abandon him, Peter replied: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”John 6:68GK Chesterton is said to have said, “When we find it difficult to believe in God, we tend to turn away from him. But turning away from what?”
As a crime thriller and religious horror film, Long legs The film is so concerned with aesthetics yet (presumably) unaware of its own theological pretensions that it leaves no sense of closure, leaving the audience with only a hollow victory over evil, but the truth of the Devil’s fate is more certain than the film’s portrayal. Long legs It is true that Satan is indeed powerful, do not have There is no equal. It is not a magic bullet in man’s hand that will destroy man, but the keys of death and hell in the hand of the God of peace. Satan’s destruction is certain, and all he can do is resist the established truth that he will be crushed.
