Films starring Nicolas Cage are like a box of chocolates, you never quite know what you’re going to get. His choices of late have been, on the whole, improved, with such interesting films such as Arcadian and Dream Scenario.

With this latest however, it proves that a full on re-Cage-sance is in full swing.

FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) is assigned a new case in Oregon, focusing on a number of unusual murders, which sees a father murder his family and then himself. A letter is left behind at each grizzly scene, all written in a satanic code, and all signed “Longlegs” (Cage).

As if this case wasn’t disturbing enough, Harker has history with this particular character, having come across him twenty years previously as a young girl.

The question is, knowing what she knows, can she track him down before this evil occultist strikes again?

Actor Osgood Perkins, who’s not only the son of Anthony Perkins, but played a young Norman Bates in 1983’s Psycho II so has a history with the macabre, has recently turned his hand to directing, with this his fourth film. And it’s a masterful gem.

It’s a dark, brooding and disturbing tale, echoing the style of David Fincher generally, but also specifically his excellent, short-lived Netflix series Mindhunter about serial killers.

It also has heavy wafts of Silence of the Lambs, as it features the relationship between a female FBI agent and a serial killer.

The result is a chilling, creepy, psychological thriller, pitting good against evil.

Monroe is superb as Agent Harker, a woman scarred from her childhood, but also blessed with a possible gift of clairvoyance that she utilises in her work.

And then there’s Cage, who much like his role in Arcadian, takes more of a backseat role, albeit a highly impactful one. His role as Longlegs allows him to bring the expected Cage crazy to his character, but his evil persona is greatly magnified by a considered period of time on screen, much like Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs who although memorable, and won a Best Actor Oscar for his role, only spent roughly 16 minutes on screen. The result is chilling, as Cage, who is in heavy make-up (not The Penguin heavy, but still not instantly recognisable), delves into a disturbing darkness that is visible at all times.

Perkins is excellent behind the camera, as he captures not only the period that the film is set (mid-90’s), but more importantly a dark, disconcerting milieu throughout. The script has a few issues, like Harker’s unexplained supernatural powers, as well as no kind of back story for Longlegs himself, but these can all be forgiven for the overall theme and tone of the film, which is deliciously unsettling.

There’s also a curious T-Rex connection; not only does Marc Bolan’s music feature heavily throughout, but a poster of him also appears in Longleg’s bedroom, just to add further to the mystery.

This is the kind of off-the-wall, quirky, unusual horror that out-A24’s A24, who really have more misses than hits of late.

It’s a slow-burner, but in Perkins’ capable hands, is never ever dull, maintaining a level of intrigue and dread from beginning to end.