Hype can be the death nell for a perfectly good movie – this is especially true of the horror genre. After a huge viral marketing campaign and the subsequent release of Neon picture’s latest foray into cinema – Longlegs – I feared, was going to be overhyped.

Spoiler alert – I was wrong. Very. Very wrong.

I saw this film on Friday – and it’s honestly taken me the last 5 days to wrap my head around the picture, and process what I saw.

Touted as the scariest movie in the last decade – the movie follows an FBI agent tasked with tracking down an occult serial killer simply known as “Longlegs”.

Directed by Osgood Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter, I am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House) and starring Maika Monroe (It Follows) and Nicolas Cage, the film features Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt, Michelle Choi-Lee, and Dakota Daulby in supporting roles.

Set in Oregon in the 1970’s – Perkins perfectly captures the bleak atmosphere of the pacific northwest. The opening sequence of the film could play as a short horror film just on it’s own. Beautifully shot, brilliantly acted and with just the right amount of quiet unsettling film play. It’s delicious to watch.

Then you’re in it. Following an FBI agent as she uses all the resources, she has at her disposal to track down the killer – played by Nic Cage.

Let’s talk about Cage’s portrayal. Cage reportedly used his own mother who suffered from mental illness as a model for his depiction of Long Legs. Everything about Cage’s character was kept under wraps before the films release.

When you finally do get a glimpse of Cage, it’s pure nightmare fuel. The unimaginable creep factor that Cage exudes seeps from every frame. He’s almost omnipresent – a feat that speaks to the impression his character makes in the first seconds of the film.

Perkins frames his shots perfectly, always leaving windows and doors in full view – inviting the titular character Longlegs to peek out and get into your soul. He’s rarely on screen – but he is always there – and you can feel it.

Longlegs is the modern-day Silence of the Lambs – and in many ways eclipses it the Hannibal Lecter driven classic.

Longlegs is easily one of my favourite movies released this year, an unforgettable romp through a world full of nightmares driven by a madman. A dream like serial killer tale that will swallow you. See it.

5 stars. Easily.

Longlegs is in theaters now.