Warning! Contains spoilers for Longlegs.

I have been longing for a Silence of the Lambs replacement ever since I first watched it, and, thankfully, this new Nicolas Cage horror movie ends my search. Soon after its release in 1991, The Silence of the Lambs became a worldwide hit, grossing over $270 million against a relatively small budget of $19 million. However, the film’s success extended far beyond its box office numbers. In the years that followed, it became one of the most influential films, inspiring several crime thrillers that attempted to replicate it but fell short.

Over three decades after its release, The Silence of the Lambs still holds up incredibly well and sustains its legacy as one of the best psychological horror movies ever. Owing to this, when many critics were comparing Nicolas Cage’s new horror film with The Silence of the Lambs, I could not help but wonder whether the comparison was hyperbole or had some semblance of truth. Although I have faith in Nicolas Cage and love what he brings to the screen with each horror movie, I carefully measured my expectations. Surprisingly, the film went well above and beyond.

Like The Silence Of The Lambs, Longlegs Keeps Its Villain’s Screen Time Brief But Impactful

Both Anthony Hopkins & Nicolas Cage Have Incredible Screen Presence As Villains

It would be unfair to say that Longlegs is narratively similar to Silence of the Lambs because, despite structural similarities, the two films are significantly different. As director Oz Perkins explained (via IGN), Longlegs‘ Silence of the Lambs parallels only serve as admission tickets to get audiences through the door. However, it is still hard not to notice how Longlegs — knowingly or unknowingly — adopts some of the elements from the Jonathan Demme film. Among these, the most noticeable element is Longlegs‘ treatment of its villain.

Like Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter, Nicolas Cage’s titular Longlegs barely has any screen time in the film. However, when he does appear, Cage’s brilliant performance and the eerie ambiguousness with which his character is portrayed are enough to creep under one’s skin. Cage’s Longlegs is not as articulate and charming as Hopkins’ Lecter but exudes a similar menacing but friendly presence that looms even when he is not on-screen.

Maika Monroe’s Lee Harker Is Reminiscent Of Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling

Both Characters Are Misfits In Their Respective Stories

Both Clarice Starling and Lee Harker are treated as outsiders in the FBI. While Clarice struggles to find her place in a male-dominant workplace, Lee Harker’s reserved demeanor is often seen as a liability. In a brief but memorable scene from Longlegs, I could not help but see Lee Harker as the perfect counterpart to Clarice Starling. When Lee visits her boss’ home, she briefly gets to interact with his daughter, who asks her if it is scary being a female FBI agent.

Although Lee remains restrained, she says “yes” with calm reassurance, reminiscent of all the moments from Silence of the Lambs where Clarice stands as a stark contrast against the male recruits in her organization. Despite its lack of terrors, it is a powerful scene because it shows how the young girl is the only character who bothers empathizing with Lee without being judgmental. Many story details in Longlegs also suggest that, like Clarice, Lee ended up joining law enforcement because of her childhood traumas.

The two films also feature similar interrogation scenes where Lee and Clarice are thrown into the lion’s den, making them face the worst of humanity. After their respective encounters with the central serial killers, both characters face blatant sexism. While Lecter’s neighboring inmate flings semen at Clarice, Lee’s superior blames her instead of showing any empathy when the interrogation does not go as planned. Only a female agent then comes forward and insists on dropping her back home.

Longlegs Is More Supernatural But Unfolds Like A Typical Crime Procedural

Some Of Longlegs’ Mysteries Are Grounded In Realism

As I mentioned earlier, despite the many similarities, Longlegs and The Silence of the Lambs are narratively two distinct movies. The primary reason behind this is that Longlegs has many supernatural elements. Unlike Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling, Maika Monroe’s Lee Harker is clairvoyant, allowing her to see things in crimes that extend beyond her co-workers’ human senses. Longlegs‘ climactic murder mystery twist is also supernatural and is more reminiscent of films like Hereditary than crime procedural thrillers like The Silence of the Lambs.

However, despite this, Longlegs unfolds like a typical procedural in its first half, immersing viewers and making them active participants in its puzzle box of mysteries. Its procedural elements are sometimes predictable and lack the nuance that The Silence of the Lambs brings to the table. But it generates enough intrigue with these story aspects to keep one captivated till its white-knuckling supernatural twists begin surfacing.

Longlegs’ Climax Is As Thrilling As The Silence Of The Lambs’

Both Films Have Terrifyingly Ambiguous Developments In Their Endings

In The Silence of the Lambs‘ ending arc, Clarice Starling faces one of her biggest challenges when she struggles to find Gumb in the dark while he stalks her wearing night-vision glasses. Starling’s odds of survival in this situation seem incredibly low, but she, fortunately, reacts quickly and shoots Gumb when he cocks his revolver. Even though I am well aware of the outcome of this scene, every time I rewatch it, I cannot help but hold my breath when Starling struggles to find Gumb.

I felt something similar when I watched Longlegs‘ final arc where Lee Harker is forced to make the quick decision of shooting her superior and then her mother before they can harm her. Just when I thought I could sigh with relief while watching both films, they left me with disturbing endings where the bigger evil lingers. While Hopkins’ Lecter tells Starling that he is “having an old friend for dinner,” Cage’s satanic “the man downstairs” becomes free in ways he wasn’t before.

Is Longlegs As Good As The Silence Of The Lambs?

It Comes Close To Being As Chilling & Atmospheric

Longlegs‘ overall appeal seems to be more niche compared to The Silence of the Lambs, especially because of its supernatural twists. Its procedural aspects are also far less detailed and more predictable than the 1991 film’s. However, when it comes to leaving a lasting impact on a viewer, I can confidentially say that Longlegs felt as invasive with its terrors as The Silence of the Lambs. Like the Jonathan Demme film, Oz Perkins’ Longlegs presents a story that felt too personal, making me believe it could happen to me.

While it still arguably falls short of matching The Silence of the Lambs‘ legacy, Longlegs manages to etch its own unique identity in the psychological horror genre. Owing to its distinctive style and mishmash of genres, it seems likely that the Nicolas Cage movie’s initial reception will be relatively more divisive than The Silence of the Lambs‘. However, like True Detective season 1, which also blends supernatural horror with thrilling detective crime drama, it will gradually find a dedicated audience.