A Love Letter to Lee Harker
By Bella Kovar
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When I was younger, I wanted to be an FBI Agent. I didn’t end up going down that path, I realized later that a lot of that desire stemmed from the fact that I hyper fixated on Criminal Minds when I was in middle school and had a massive crush on Matthew Gray Gubler. When Lee Harker—from Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs—was younger, she wanted to be an actress. The audience isn’t given much insight on how that path turned from something so glamorous to a cracked and bloodied game of cat and mouse in her life as an agent. Perhaps something to do with destiny or purpose.
I first saw Perkins’ Longlegs a few months ago, and although I found some of the plot progression and writing to be a bit sloppy, there was something about it that made me keep coming back and thinking about it. I’m a big fan of horror movies and have seen my fair share. If one were to look at my Letterboxd logs they would find mostly scary films or ones that toe the line between thriller, crime, and psychology. I was excited to see Longlegs, but what I didn’t expect was that my favorite part would be Maika Monroe’s visceral and unwavering portrayal of Lee Harker.
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Leading ladies in horror films aren’t something uncommon, however, this specific type of narrative focusing on supernatural as well as crime, mystery, obsession, and career usually have the lead roles reserved for men. Prisoners, Se7en, Zodiac, The Usual Suspects…the list could go on and on. The only other crime horror film I could think of from the top of my head that is known well in mainstream media was Jonathan Demme’s iconic The Silence of the Lambs. It’s no surprise that Perkins has mentioned in interviews that The Silence of the Lambs had a slight influence on Longlegs. However, he makes it known that he wasn’t thinking of it the entire time—the two films are very obviously separate entities with similar veins.
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Introverted Lee Harker is asked by her supervisor’s daughter, Ruby Carter, “Is it scary being a lady FBI agent?”. As a young woman watching the film, when she says her cut and dry response of “Yes, it is”, it comes as no surprise. Harker has seen her previous partner shot and killed, received a threatening letter from the serial killer Longlegs, and has immense repressed childhood trauma which she only fully discovers by the end of the film. The same course of events could happen to a man in a similar narrative, but what makes Harker’s experience so unique is her tie to feminine intuition and reactions to the disturbing things that happen to her. She has a desire to understand, rather than obstruct the truth for the sake of her ego or own personal gain. What struck me as a viewer is how strong, brave, and intelligent Lee Harker is throughout the running time when she’s met with such pandemonium. Her character unravels further in front of our eyes through her relationship with her mother, her unstoppable drive for answers, and her intellect which utilizes clairvoyance as a tool as well as pragmatism.
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While I appreciate Longlegs for its commitment to classic horror editing techniques, symmetrical cinematography, and tactical use of practical gore, I do believe that what drew me into the story more than anything was Harker’s search for identity as well as seeing her character become more and more infatuated with her role in the Longlegs case. What makes Harker’s character stand out more than an average proclaimed “Scream Queen” is her layered and prominent search for her life’s purpose. Beneath the jumpscares and Nicolas Cage’s incredible transformation into a decrepit serial killer, is the story of a brave young woman slowly unspooling her tragic thread of fate.
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