The Riveting Squares of Oz Perkins' 'Longlegs'

Neon’s Longlegs opened over the weekend and racked up a hefty $22 million on less than a $10 million budget, thanks mostly to solid word of mouth. People in horror circles and beyond can’t stop talking about Longlegs, whether it’s Nic Cage’s performance (for better or worse), the stellar opening scene, the quixotic ending, fear vs. dread, and even the brilliant marketing campaign.

But all I want to talk about are those squares. The other shapes, too. But mostly the squares.

This is my first Oz Perkins film, so squares may be a recurring theme in his previous works, too, but in Longlegs, they are riveting. That opening scene, in fact, is shot as a square, with the face of Nic Cage’s Longlegs’ character halfway out of frame — a visual metaphor, perhaps, for the fractured psyche of the killer and the incomplete nature of the investigation. Within ten to fifteen minutes, the squares were all I could see: The way that Perkins framed most of the indoor scenes was striking in its squareness, creating a sense of confinement and unease that mirrors the characters’ psychological states.

The prevalence of squares serves multiple purposes. On a surface level, they create a sense of order and structure in a world that’s anything but orderly. This juxtaposition heightens the tension, as the rigid geometry contrasts sharply with the chaotic nature of the crimes being investigated. Moreover, the squares act as a visual motif for containment - both of the killer’s victims and of the dark secrets lurking beneath the surface of seemingly normal lives.

Look at this crime scene: The square TV, the square frames, designed to draw the eye in, but also to trap it:

There are so many square walls with single-square frames on them that when we saw the room of Agent Carter’s daughter with a single square frame in the middle of the wall, I knew the family was doomed. The isolated frame becomes a harbinger of tragedy, a window into the vulnerability of the characters.

The squares within squares are recursive, as though suggesting we could break the serial killer’s pattern within those squares. This layering of geometric shapes mirrors the complexity of the case, with each square representing a layer of mystery to be peeled back. Seven heads. Ten horns. Geometry!

Even the characters were so often framed by squares, a visual representation of how they’re trapped by circumstances, their own pasts, or the killer’s design:

While symmetry and focus are certainly part of Perkins’ use of squares, their real power lies in their ability to create a sense of unnatural order. This geometric precision serves as a counterpoint to the chaotic nature of evil, making the contrast even more unsettling:

The order becomes so striking that when Agent Lee Harker visits her mother (played by Alicia Witt), the chaos and disorder in her home immediately signals something amiss. The departure from the established visual language creates an instant sense of unease, demonstrating how Perkins uses the presence — and absence — of squares to manipulate our minds.

Windows, single picture frames, and doorways become portals - not just physical transitions, but symbolic gateways between the known and unknown, the safe and the dangerous. Even hallways take on new significance:

These elongated squares create a sense of inevitable progression, drawing characters (and viewers) deeper into the heart of the mystery.

Perkins’ use of squares transcends mere visual style; it becomes a language of its own, speaking volumes about confinement, order amidst chaos, and the layered nature of both the investigation and human psyche. The comparisons to David Fincher are well deserved: He is meticulous, with every frame carefully considered to contribute to the overall narrative and emotional impact. There are a number of reasons that Longlegs is my favorite horror film of the year, but this masterful attention to visual detail - and the deeper meanings it conveys - is chief among them. So the next time you watch Longlegs — and it deserves multiple viewings — watch for the squares.