Posts Tagged ‘Alicia Witt’

LONGLEGS: 4 STARS. “AS SERIAL KILLERS GO, Jame Gumb has nothing on this guy.”

SYNOPSIS: In “Longlegs,” a new psychological horror film starring Maika Munroe and Nicolas Cage, and now playing in theatres, FBI Agent Lee Harker is assigned to a decades-old case of a serial killer who targets entire families. The case turns personal as she uncovers evidence of the occult.

CAST: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Alicia Witt, Blair Underwood, Kiernan Shipka. Directed by Osgood Perkins (son of “Psycho” star Anthony Perkins and photographer and actress Berry Berenson).

REVIEW More unsettling than scary, “Longlegs” is both thematically and visually dark. There’s not a lot of cracks to let the light in. As the mystery at the heart of this occult thriller unfolds, the action happens mostly at night or in darkened rooms, lending a heavy air of foreboding to every frame of this strange film.

Adding to the film’s otherworldly vibe is Maika Monroe as Lee Harker, the FBI agent assigned to Longlegs’ case. She is Clarice Starling with a carefully defined introspective side; a sixth sense that helps to unravel her cases. “It’s like something tapping me on the shoulder,” he says, “telling me where to look.” Analytical in the extreme, Munroe, in a quiet performance, allows us to see the gears turning in her head as the clues begin to add up. Her process gives Harker a brooding demeanor that perfectly matches the film’s tense, subdued tone.

On the other end of the scale is Cage as the titular serial killer. His unhinged, chaotic work makes his other gonzo performances in movies like “The Wicker Man,” “Face/Off” and “Vampire Kiss” seem positively understated by comparison. Jame Gumb has nothing on this guy. It’s an over-the-top display and individual mileage may vary, but his Tiny Tim inflection, creepy rendition of “Happy Birthday” and repulsive leer will not soon be forgotten.

Despite Cage’s larger-than-life-and-death performance, “Longlegs” values restraint. Other than a quick flash of decomposing bodies, a gallon or two of blood and a handful of jump scares, Perkins is more interested in burrowing into your subconscious with a nightmarish story that unfolds in the dark corners of Harker’s mind. The story’s psychological underpinnings are where the true horror lies. where the discomfort comes from.

By the time the end credits roll, you’ll leave the theatre unnerved, even after they turn on the lights.

88 MINUTES: MINUS 88 STARS

In 88 Minutes Al Pacino is Jack Gramm, a troubled college professor whose forensic psychiatrist testimony put serial killer Jon Forster (Neal McDonough) on death row. On the eve of the execution Gramm receives a mysterious phone call informing him that he only has 88 minutes to live. As the minutes speed by Gramm narrowly escapes several attempts on his life as he and some of his students (including Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, and Benjamin McKenzie) attempt to track down the mysterious caller.

88 Minutes was shot two years ago in Vancouver and has been languishing on the shelf ever since, save for a DVD release in Brazil. Too bad for us that it made its way from the shelf to our theatres. From its ridiculous story to Pacino’s poodle hair 88 Minutes is an ill advised mess.

It’s a thriller with no thrills that ineptly tires to use the “real time” tricking clock to create tension and excitement. 88 Minutes? It feels more like 88 hours as Pacino sleepwalks through this absurd waste of time. Even though Pacino’s character is trying to beat the clock to avoid a mysterious death sentence I guarantee you’ll be looking at your watch more often than he does during the film’s running time.

Years ago actress Jennifer Tilly told me that whenever she’s made a really bad movie it’s because she needed the money to put a new roof on her guest house or the like. With that in mind, and having just seen 88 Minutes, I wonder how the renovation on Pacino’s guest house went.