Movie Meow: Is “Longlegs” the best horror picture ever? Maybe.

The year was 1992. The first ever horror film (if you want to call it horror), I say more suspense than anything, went on to surprise the land by winning Best Picture, Best Actor, Actress, Director, and Screenplay at the coveted Academy Awards ceremony. Can you guess the movie I speak of? Well, if you thought The Silence of the Lambs, you were more than correct, and I applaud you!

Fast forward some 31 years later and I just had the immense pleasure of watching a film that has in my opinion dethroned the previous gold standard, and slightly overrated (yes, I said it!) The Silence of the Lambs. Coming out of nowhere and garnering huge amounts of buzz on TikTok and all the socials just a few weeks prior to its release is a crime thriller/horror called “Longlegs”.

With an impressive opening weekend raking in $22.6 million green ones, Longlegs starring Maika Monroe (The Watcher) playing a quiet, intense female FBI agent new on the case of trying to uncover occult clues and catch an enigmatic, elusive serial killer named Longlegs, played pitch perfectly by Nicolas Cage (Peggy Sue Got Married).

This is just another peg in the board for Nicolas Cage’s impressive career renaissance. folks. Quite frankly, in this very role Mr. Cage gives us not one of, but definitively the most frightening, eyes open paralyzing performance of this century, no doubt.

By design, the director Oz Perkins, (not to be confused with the hack Dr. Oz., sorry couldn’t pass that diss up, it was low hanging fruit) insisted to the studio not to use his titular character played by Cage, neither to show his image on the posters nor in the film’s teaser trailers. And that mystery was a decision and ploy that added much hype and shock value for what the audience was about to witness.

In a perfect world, “Longlegs” would not be overlooked at the end of the year award season like most films typically do in this genre. Nicolas Cage is getting my early backing for deserving a Best Supporting Actor statue on his shelf as he has now given us arguably the strongest, most intense screen performances in the history of the cinema. Every moment he graces the screen it is damn impossible to look away.

There is not one single detail overlooked in this puzzle as you scramble to unlock all the clues right along with the characters before you. The script and cinematography are tighter than my abs were before I started drinking at age 21. Longlegs, short legs, who cares quite frankly (I am lady height), see this landmark film at any cost. This particular noir is as good as good gets. If you are a fan of twists and turns, then buckle in, cause like me, your going to think you’re riding on The Phoenix at Knoebel’s Grove my friends after this viewing, no whip lash or kneck kinks included of course!

“Longlegs,”starring: Nicolas Cage, Blair Underwood, and Maika Monroe

Christopher’s “Meow” Score: “10” paws out of 10