“Longlegs.” / “Suitable Flesh.”

“Longlegs” (2024, Hulu) thriller horror film written and directed by Osgood Perkins. Story: In 1974 Oregon, a young girl with a Polaroid camera follows a mysterious voice and encounters an erratic man in pale makeup. 20 years later, FBI agent Lee Harker, who exhibits possible clairvoyance, is assigned by her supervisor William Carter to a case involving a series of murder–suicides in Oregon. 

       Pre-watch info: This movie received critical acclaim and grossed $126 million worldwide on a budget of less than $10 million. Sure, horror films command lucrative box-office dough but $116 million gross by an indie is huge. So there!

       Relatively unknown Maika Monroe is that agent, Lee Harker. She's fine in the scary/confused look but she lacks the steely, insistent defiance that muffled the lost-girl vulnerability of Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling in 1991's “The Silence of the Lambs.” But the showtime belongs to Nicolas Cage's Dale Kobble a.k.a. Longlegs. Nic sure enjoyed getting into the howling prosthetics of a killer, eerily cartoonish. Reminds me of his Dracula in 2023's “Renfield.” The entertainment isn't the movie but Nic's “nouveau shamanic” performance. Fun! 🎥💻📽

“Suitable Flesh” (2023, Hulu) horror film, based on the 1937 H. P. Lovecraft short story "The Thing on the Doorstep." Heather Graham is a psychiatrist who becomes involved and obsessed with one of her clients. She soon becomes entangled in an ancient curse; one with octopedal ramifications, another of Mr Lovecraft's signature themes arises. 

       I used to read H.P. Lovecraft’s books from when I was in college, such as “The Shadow over Innsmouth” and “The Alchemists.” Some were made into movies. Always, it is scarier to read his words than to watch the cinematic interpretation. 🎥💻📽