Viewers of “Longlegs” Struggle to Sleep Due to Nicolas Cage’s ‘Horrific’ Act

Cinemagoers are experiencing sleepless nights over Nicolas Cage’s “haunting” and “horrific” role in the new film Longlegs.

The psychological horror, released on Friday (12 July), had been much anticipated, even being branded “the best serial killer film since The Silence of the Lambs.”

It appears the marketing has successfully paid off, with distributor Neon registering its most successful opening weekend ever at the box office.

The film, with a budget of $3m (£2.3m), is set to make up to $23m (£17.7m) in the US. Neon’s previous films include I, Tonya, Triangle of Sadness, and the Oscar-winning Parasite, which remains its most successful film to date.

Directed by Osgood Perkins, Longlegs is set in the 1990s and follows FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), who investigates a series of murders committed by a Marc Bolan-obsessed killer known as Longlegs.

Cage plays the creepy killer, and his performance is leaving many viewers feeling deeply disturbed.

The actor has been praised for his work, with some calling it an “unhinged masterclass” that has led to many sleepless nights. One viewer commented, “I woke up at 2am, thought of Nicolas Cage in Longlegs and got so scared I had to sleep with the light on,” while another added, “Nicolas Cage as Longlegs will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

Another viewer expressed surprise at Cage’s role, writing on X/Twitter, “I never thought I would be scared of Nicolas Cage,” while Cage/Rage, a podcast dedicated to the actor, branded the performance one of his best, stating, “The man was built for horror.”

Others noted that while the film didn’t fully live up to the hype, Cage’s performance was a standout: “Saw Longlegs today. It was a good movie. It just didn’t live up to the advertisements. Nicolas Cage was still very much Nicolas Cage, which is always fun.”

In The Independent’s four-star review of the film, critic Clarisse Loughrey wrote, “The actor’s unpredictability has always best served the descent into madness, and less so characters who have comfortably made themselves at home there. And his performance here is at its best when he actually drops the ‘weird’.”

Longlegs is in cinemas now.

Source: The Independent