This was great, AJB. I agree about looking at today’s horror, and when you have the ecological decline, the genocides happening, and the political fuckups, some of this stuff just doesn’t compare and certainly doesn’t stay with you (see also Alien: Romulus)
Considering how frightening the modern world is, horror directors need to BRING it. Despite so many of them loving John Carpenter’s work they seem to have learned the wrong lessons.
You're one of my favorite living cultural critics, and this piece is exactly why. I am also a lifelong horror fan, a Florida native, and I'm a huge fan of Crawl. Thank you for these insights, which speak to so much of what I did not like about this film. So appreciate your work.
The audience I saw this with was mostly laughing at all its store-bought imagery. There's an element of camp here that could have saved it from being totally forgettable, but even that would require a sharper focus on the social/morally normative values that "satanism" supposedly rejects. I was waiting for a nod to the historical moment in which it was set, some kind of 90s "end of history" vibe, but it never came.
Loved the discussion of Cure, one of my favorites. It's a movie that does not offer a clear explanation of why its villain chooses to kill, but it doesn't feel like a failure of imagination. The uncertainty about motive deepens the sense that Mamiya embodies or preys on a lot of interpersonal rage and violence lurking just below the surface of the puppet-killers' placid lives.
I'm generally a baby about horror movies--not hard to scare at all--but for some reason Catholic horror usually leaves me pretty indifferent. I don't know if that's an atheist's rejection of the fundamental premise leeching most of the fright from the scenario or if it's because most of the filmmakers who use those tropes skip over the connections to society that you identify as so important for good horror.
Yeah Catholic or really any Christian based religious horror does not a damn thing for me either. Maybe it’s because I don’t believe in that shit. (I said to a friend recently that I don’t believe in hell for myself only other people and she busted out laughing). These Catholic based horror movies all have the same tropes, visuals and dynamics. It’s been boring for decades. I also always wonder with these movies why the Devil gives his followers such cool abilities and the Christian god has his flock trying to hold back the gates of hell with just prayer and holy water. Makes things uneven and uninteresting!
Before watching this last week, my boyfriend asked me when I was last genuinely scared by a horror film. We both failed to come up with an answer, and this movie wasn’t it. You summed up precisely what is so irksome about it. Also, like you pointed out, that Clinton portrait was an unsubtle reminder of the era we were in but nothing else really rendered a feeling of time or place, no matter how aesthetically crafted it was. Thanks for this piece.
The "framing" thats exactly the word I was missing when trying to describe to a friend after watching the movie formally known as "Pussy Island" recently. The framing is trying to fill-in for the lack of imgination is the perfect way to describe the current wave of all trauma and a splash of horror films sweeping our land sadly.
It’s very depressing but once you clock it it’s hard to unsee how many horror films today are obsessed with very deliberate, manicured framing but there’s nothing there beyond that.
Out of curiosity, did you see this in theaters or once it hit streaming? I found this to be a really gripping theatrical experience, tailor-made for big screens where the sounds get into your bones and your eyes timidly wander around the well-composed frames. But then I completely agree that upon reflection, everything you so well articulated begins to feel discordant and just lame. I'm fairly certain that it'll fall like a house of cards during my at-home rewatch.
Also, what (if any) horror from 2024 fits your smart parameters laid out?
Ooooh that’s a good question. I didn’t go to the press screening here so I only say Longlegs later at home. I think you’re probably right that the immersive quality of a good theater experience would work in the film’s favor. In terms of horror from this year I actually enjoyed the South Korean flick, Exhuma, is definitely worth watching. I dug that one! Have you seen it?
And I’ll just add that the Cure rewatch blew Longlegs out of the water. Both movies go “out there” in the third act, but Cure becomes scarier and more impactful and Longlegs completely less so.
This is the horror discourse we need!!! I love your question about the recent trend in horror back towards catholicism, Satan, and autonomy: “who is truly scared of this shit?” There’s a lot of room in the horror genre to actually play with who* is horrified by what*, that is almost totally underutilized. (John Waters utilizes tf out of this dynamic, but not to standard horrific means.) I def see a narrative about neoliberal fears of christo-facial playing out in this trend, especially with the focus on female bodily autonomy via The Handsmaid’s Tald, Immaculate, and The First Omen. Not to say this isn’t a valid fear—female bodily autonomy is 1000% at threat, but it is also one of MANY sites of horrific state violence and impunity. And we’re seeing this focus on christo-facism played out in media narratives that are telling us we MUST vote for a party that is openly supporting genocide(s).
Which brings me to your excellent observation about how the cop character needs to be comparably fully fleshed out and horrific next to the serial killer character. Our supposed saviors are evil too!! And not being able to explore that because the industry is too wrapped up in neo-liberalism does a disservice.
I feel like there’s a trend that can be elucidated over the past 15-20 years about horror protagonists not being complicated, ugly characters (with some notable exceptions that are usually widely lauded!). Is it maybe our obsession with the final girl that calls for this equation of surviving with purity? Cos manyyyyy folks living rn know surviving is actually a pretty dirty experience...
So many rich questions and possibilities in this piece! Great recs for compelling counter-examples (YES Crawl!!), and I love your commitment to directors having clear intentions. You tore, babes 💜
this is brilliant, articulates issues with Longlegs and a lot of contemporary american horror film so well, thank you! on a catholic horror note, have you watched the tv show Evil? Would love to know if it worked for you or not...
Funny enough, I love EVIL. It’s the exception for me in part because it doesn’t follow the same tropes films have been taking from The Exorcist. It’s so funny, wild, inventive and MODERN.
ah i'm only half way through s3 (only started watching it this year) and am very sad s4 is the final one; had fallen out of love with horror as was just feeling perpetually dissapointed by new films so am relieved the show exists!
100% agree. An illuminating piece on the film. I kept struggling with many of the same elements. Left me cold and empty. Also: CRAWL! I still quote your review of that film to friends. What a movie!
Gnarly and thrilling through its clear conceit. No metaphors or allegories. There are gators, now survive! I’m about to attend a fest with the new film from the director of Crawl and, while the trailer didn’t exactly Intrigue me, I want to see what he’s cooked next.
Agree almost entirely. One thing I found especially unfortunate was choosing to call the character Harker. I kept wondering how she was similar Mina Harker and/or Longlegs to Dracula… but it was just a distractingly broad allusion to, not a work but a genre?
Now if she had been named Mina Harper or Mina Hooker the slippage within the allusion would have been more natural and fitting…
I wonder if people just want to turn off their brains when they watch horror. The 90s, Satanic panic, all horror comfort food tropes and not meaningful. I wonder if we will die out before anyone contributes to the horror genre in a meaningful way re: environmental disaster, genocide, etc. I will say, my movie club and I remarked on the number of horror movies we saw this year that revolved around pregnancy. Specifically forced pregnancy. Immaculate, The First Omen, Longlegs (more about motherhood than pregnancy) and even Cuckoo. Seems directly correlated to Roe being overturned. Due to my own mother/daughter issues I was shocked at how upset I was by Longlegs. The notion that your mother would do something to save you, something she thought was right, that she would ultimately come to resent you for, broke me. The way Ruth spat out “Not all small things get to grow up.” will stay with me.
This was great, AJB. I agree about looking at today’s horror, and when you have the ecological decline, the genocides happening, and the political fuckups, some of this stuff just doesn’t compare and certainly doesn’t stay with you (see also Alien: Romulus)
Considering how frightening the modern world is, horror directors need to BRING it. Despite so many of them loving John Carpenter’s work they seem to have learned the wrong lessons.
Absolutely, Carpenter’s movies all have this underlying sense of dread that doesn’t let go until the credits roll, so you’re constantly unsettled
You're one of my favorite living cultural critics, and this piece is exactly why. I am also a lifelong horror fan, a Florida native, and I'm a huge fan of Crawl. Thank you for these insights, which speak to so much of what I did not like about this film. So appreciate your work.
Thank you for such kind words! I am definitely gonna rewatch Crawl this October for my daily horror watch I do throughout the month.
Meant every word. And love this - I do a daily horror watch in October too! Hope you'll share a few of your picks with us.
I definitely will!
The audience I saw this with was mostly laughing at all its store-bought imagery. There's an element of camp here that could have saved it from being totally forgettable, but even that would require a sharper focus on the social/morally normative values that "satanism" supposedly rejects. I was waiting for a nod to the historical moment in which it was set, some kind of 90s "end of history" vibe, but it never came.
Loved the discussion of Cure, one of my favorites. It's a movie that does not offer a clear explanation of why its villain chooses to kill, but it doesn't feel like a failure of imagination. The uncertainty about motive deepens the sense that Mamiya embodies or preys on a lot of interpersonal rage and violence lurking just below the surface of the puppet-killers' placid lives.
I'm generally a baby about horror movies--not hard to scare at all--but for some reason Catholic horror usually leaves me pretty indifferent. I don't know if that's an atheist's rejection of the fundamental premise leeching most of the fright from the scenario or if it's because most of the filmmakers who use those tropes skip over the connections to society that you identify as so important for good horror.
Yeah Catholic or really any Christian based religious horror does not a damn thing for me either. Maybe it’s because I don’t believe in that shit. (I said to a friend recently that I don’t believe in hell for myself only other people and she busted out laughing). These Catholic based horror movies all have the same tropes, visuals and dynamics. It’s been boring for decades. I also always wonder with these movies why the Devil gives his followers such cool abilities and the Christian god has his flock trying to hold back the gates of hell with just prayer and holy water. Makes things uneven and uninteresting!
It’s an INCURIOUS film. Exactly. I love this & will save it to reread & share.
Thank you, love.
Before watching this last week, my boyfriend asked me when I was last genuinely scared by a horror film. We both failed to come up with an answer, and this movie wasn’t it. You summed up precisely what is so irksome about it. Also, like you pointed out, that Clinton portrait was an unsubtle reminder of the era we were in but nothing else really rendered a feeling of time or place, no matter how aesthetically crafted it was. Thanks for this piece.
Yeah the 1990s setting feels very facile. It doesn’t amount to much. And that question your boyfriend posed is a good one to consider.
“The Hidden” is SO going on my catch-up list now. Thanks for the rec, AJB!
I hope you enjoy it! It’s a wild ride.
Looking forward to it😆
Please let me know what you think when you get a chance to watch it.
Omg I’d LOVE TO. You got it.
The "framing" thats exactly the word I was missing when trying to describe to a friend after watching the movie formally known as "Pussy Island" recently. The framing is trying to fill-in for the lack of imgination is the perfect way to describe the current wave of all trauma and a splash of horror films sweeping our land sadly.
It’s very depressing but once you clock it it’s hard to unsee how many horror films today are obsessed with very deliberate, manicured framing but there’s nothing there beyond that.
Out of curiosity, did you see this in theaters or once it hit streaming? I found this to be a really gripping theatrical experience, tailor-made for big screens where the sounds get into your bones and your eyes timidly wander around the well-composed frames. But then I completely agree that upon reflection, everything you so well articulated begins to feel discordant and just lame. I'm fairly certain that it'll fall like a house of cards during my at-home rewatch.
Also, what (if any) horror from 2024 fits your smart parameters laid out?
Ooooh that’s a good question. I didn’t go to the press screening here so I only say Longlegs later at home. I think you’re probably right that the immersive quality of a good theater experience would work in the film’s favor. In terms of horror from this year I actually enjoyed the South Korean flick, Exhuma, is definitely worth watching. I dug that one! Have you seen it?
No, but it’s definitely on my list. Was too busy rewatching CURE last night after reading your essay!
And I’ll just add that the Cure rewatch blew Longlegs out of the water. Both movies go “out there” in the third act, but Cure becomes scarier and more impactful and Longlegs completely less so.
What stuck out most to you on this CURE rewatch?
This is the horror discourse we need!!! I love your question about the recent trend in horror back towards catholicism, Satan, and autonomy: “who is truly scared of this shit?” There’s a lot of room in the horror genre to actually play with who* is horrified by what*, that is almost totally underutilized. (John Waters utilizes tf out of this dynamic, but not to standard horrific means.) I def see a narrative about neoliberal fears of christo-facial playing out in this trend, especially with the focus on female bodily autonomy via The Handsmaid’s Tald, Immaculate, and The First Omen. Not to say this isn’t a valid fear—female bodily autonomy is 1000% at threat, but it is also one of MANY sites of horrific state violence and impunity. And we’re seeing this focus on christo-facism played out in media narratives that are telling us we MUST vote for a party that is openly supporting genocide(s).
Which brings me to your excellent observation about how the cop character needs to be comparably fully fleshed out and horrific next to the serial killer character. Our supposed saviors are evil too!! And not being able to explore that because the industry is too wrapped up in neo-liberalism does a disservice.
I feel like there’s a trend that can be elucidated over the past 15-20 years about horror protagonists not being complicated, ugly characters (with some notable exceptions that are usually widely lauded!). Is it maybe our obsession with the final girl that calls for this equation of surviving with purity? Cos manyyyyy folks living rn know surviving is actually a pretty dirty experience...
So many rich questions and possibilities in this piece! Great recs for compelling counter-examples (YES Crawl!!), and I love your commitment to directors having clear intentions. You tore, babes 💜
this is brilliant, articulates issues with Longlegs and a lot of contemporary american horror film so well, thank you! on a catholic horror note, have you watched the tv show Evil? Would love to know if it worked for you or not...
Funny enough, I love EVIL. It’s the exception for me in part because it doesn’t follow the same tropes films have been taking from The Exorcist. It’s so funny, wild, inventive and MODERN.
I just finished the final season of the show too!
ah i'm only half way through s3 (only started watching it this year) and am very sad s4 is the final one; had fallen out of love with horror as was just feeling perpetually dissapointed by new films so am relieved the show exists!
Spot on. I love how great he is with mood and certain visual choices, but yes, it feels empty.
100% agree. An illuminating piece on the film. I kept struggling with many of the same elements. Left me cold and empty. Also: CRAWL! I still quote your review of that film to friends. What a movie!
I love that this piece is bringing out the CRAWL fans! Such a gnarly film!
Gnarly and thrilling through its clear conceit. No metaphors or allegories. There are gators, now survive! I’m about to attend a fest with the new film from the director of Crawl and, while the trailer didn’t exactly Intrigue me, I want to see what he’s cooked next.
Great review.
Agree almost entirely. One thing I found especially unfortunate was choosing to call the character Harker. I kept wondering how she was similar Mina Harker and/or Longlegs to Dracula… but it was just a distractingly broad allusion to, not a work but a genre?
Now if she had been named Mina Harper or Mina Hooker the slippage within the allusion would have been more natural and fitting…
I wonder if people just want to turn off their brains when they watch horror. The 90s, Satanic panic, all horror comfort food tropes and not meaningful. I wonder if we will die out before anyone contributes to the horror genre in a meaningful way re: environmental disaster, genocide, etc. I will say, my movie club and I remarked on the number of horror movies we saw this year that revolved around pregnancy. Specifically forced pregnancy. Immaculate, The First Omen, Longlegs (more about motherhood than pregnancy) and even Cuckoo. Seems directly correlated to Roe being overturned. Due to my own mother/daughter issues I was shocked at how upset I was by Longlegs. The notion that your mother would do something to save you, something she thought was right, that she would ultimately come to resent you for, broke me. The way Ruth spat out “Not all small things get to grow up.” will stay with me.