Longlegs

Marketed better than almost any horror film this decade, and the first hour earns it.

An FBI agent with an unexplained intuition is put on a cold case: family annihilations across three decades, each with a coded letter left behind, each with no sign of an intruder.

Oz Perkins shoots the first half in near-square framing with the camera holding at a distance and the sound design doing the threatening, and it is truly oppressive. The house exteriors in Oregon are the best-photographed thing in recent studio horror.

Maika Monroe's heart rate during the first meeting was reportedly recorded at 170 and the take is in the film.

Then it explains itself, and the explanation involves a doll, a mother and a great deal of Nicolas Cage, and it is much smaller than the atmosphere promised.

The marketing was a masterclass. The film is a good three quarters.