Summary
- Want more films like Longlegs? Try The Blackcoat's Daughter for a slow-burning, eerie horror experience.
- If you loved Maika Monroe in Longlegs, check out Watcher for her great leading performance.
- For a creepy, intense thriller similar to Longlegs but with less horror, try Disturbia for a chilling ride.
There aren’t many films exactly like Longlegs. The brand-new investigative horror stars Maika Monroe and a nearly unrecognizable Nicolas Cage in one of the most terrifying cat-and-mouse games ever seen on film. However, there is a history, albeit not a long one, in cinema of films that have emulated at least parts of this style.
So, if fans are craving more after seeing Longlegs in theaters, there are some great options for how to follow up on the terrifying experience. From more outright horror movies to serial killer investigations and slow-burning mysteries, Longlegs will open the door to a whole different side of cinema for many fans.
7 The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015)
IMDB Score: 5.9
- Directed By: Oz Perkins
- Starring: Kiernan Shipka, Emma Roberts
If fans of Longlegs want to see where director Oz Perkins got his start, they would need to go back nearly a decade to The Blackcoat’s Daughter. Featuring a great cast like Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton, and Emma Roberts, this intriguing horror focuses on a pair of girls left behind during winter break at a Catholic boarding school.
The girls have to work together when suspicions about the nuns who run the school make them believe that there may be satanism afoot. Split into three parts, the film is an intriguing one that put Perkins on the map, along with his other early film I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House. But it was The Blackcoat’s Daughter that felt more like a precursor in style to Longlegs, and it is this one that fans of Perkins' work should start with if they are intrigued.
6 The Empty Man (2020)
IMDB Score: 6.2
- Directed By: David Prior
- Starring: James Badge Dale, Marin Ireland
If fans are looking for a long, slow-burn horror with more of a supernatural aspect, The Empty Man was released in 2020 and is based on a graphic novel that is bizarre and fascinating in equal measure. It begins with one of the most terrifying sequences in horror and focuses on a former detective searching for a missing girl, which leads him to a cult that worships a demonic entity.
The Empty Man manages the blending of investigative film and outright horror movie extremely well, making for a perspective on genre-blending that felt almost unique until Longlegs achieved a similar feel. This makes it a great hidden gem for fans of Longlegs to check out if they are looking for other films with a similar style.
5 Watcher (2022)
IMDB Score: 6.3
- Directed By: Chloe Okuno
- Starring: Maika Monroe, Burn Gorman
If what fans loved most about Longlegs was Maika Monroe, there is plenty of history between her and the horror genre to explore. Monroe shot to prominence in It Follows, which has become a modern classic, but she has also starred in several other horror projects, including the recent Watcher.
8 Underrated Indie Horror Movies
These indie movies are surprisingly good and deserve more love than they're currently getting. Here are the most underrated spooky indie movies.
This film focuses on a young woman (Monroe) who has recently moved to Bucharest with her boyfriend. She finds herself being watched by a stranger and believes him to be the serial killer she keeps hearing about, who is supposedly loose in the city. The slow-burn style, a great leading performance from Monroe, and the excellent Burt Gorman as the creepy Watcher make this a great and similarly styled film to check out for anyone who enjoyed Longlegs.
4 Disturbia (2007)
IMDB Score: 6.8
- Directed By: D.J. Caruso
- Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Sarah Roemer
If cinema-goers found themselves wanting something similar to Longlegs but with a little less of the outright horror aspect, they could tone it down to creepy and intense with Disturbia. This film starred Shia Lebeouf right before his major blockbuster breakout in Transformers, as a teenager who began watching his neighbors and soon realized that he was witnessing a serial killer.
If fans of Longlegs want more serial killers on their screens, they’ll love Disturbia’s intensity. While the “Rear Window” has been done many times, Disturbia is one of the best modern examples of this style of film, and it will be a great addition to the library of PG-13 horror movies for fans who want something slightly less intense than Longlegs.
3 Zodiac (2007)
IMDB Score: 7.7
- Directed By: David Fincher
- Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo
There are few directors that can outmatch the power of Longlegs for dark investigative thrillers with horror elements, but that style almost perfectly describes several of the films of David Fincher. After becoming famous with films like Fight Club, Fincher made Zodiac. This true story investigation focuses on the Zodiac killer who worked in San Francisco in the 1960s and 70s.
The film is centered on a cartoonist who becomes obsessed with the killer and works alongside crime reporters and police investigators in his attempts to help solve the identity of the killer. Without as many horror elements but producing one of the best mystery thrillers in history, Zodiac is a phenomenal film that will literally leave fans guessing.
2 Seven (1995)
IMDB Score: 8.6
- Directed By: David Fincher
- Starring: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman
Long before Zodiac, David Fincher also created an absolutely incredible film that put him on the map, as well as elevating everyone who starred in it. Se7en changed the investigative genre of films forever and was truly horrifying at the same time.
The film followed a pair of detectives trying to track down a serial killer who was using the seven deadly sins as inspiration for his gruesome killings. The noir style, the slow-burn investigation, the utter horror of some sequences, and the amazing cast make Se7en a great follow-up after Longlegs for any fans fortunate enough to get to experience this legendary film for the first time.
1 The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
IMDB Score: 8.6
- Directed By: Jonathan Demme
- Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster
If Longlegs can be described as anything, it is a “Silence of the Lambs” and not just because of the unique blending of genres. It’s because this classic of cinema and horror is a masterpiece based on the relationship between the two leads, one a cannibalistic serial killer named Hannibal Lecter, the other a young female detective, played by Jodie Foster.
The similarities between Longlegs and The Silence of the Lambs are no coincidence. The style of Longlegs shows inspiration from the story of Lecter and Clarice Starling shining through. The horror, the serial killer on the loose, the slow-burn style, and the focus on the terrifying, strange relationship between two polar opposites make The Silence of the Lambs the dream watch, or re-watch, for anyone who thoroughly enjoyed Longlegs.
Which Horror Movie Should Become a Video Game?
For me, three titles/franchises come to mind. Scream could make a really interesting single-player game that blends in horror gameplay with cinematic storytelling and an unraveling mystery as you play as the final girl/guy trying to work out the mystery of the killer as things get worse and worse. Second, The Cabin in the Woods has so much that could be done in a game - it would work really well as a multiplayer title, both as survivors trying to outlast one another and make it out alive, or players also working behind the scenes to try and kill players in various scenarios, much like in the movie. Lastly, my personal first choice is IT. IT would be the perfect choice for a multiplayer horror game and could be another that loosely fits into the same sort of mold as the Dead By Daylight and Killer Klownz from Outer Space games. Each player can take the role of one of the children, and work through a series of level-based objectives, while Pennywise - as either another player or an AI,