The ending of Nicolas Cage's new horror thriller Longlegs is inspired by one of the best thrillers of all time

After all the hype surrounding the horror movie Longlegs, the new thriller is now available in theaters. And if you’ve seen the Osgood Perkins film, you’ll know that not everything is wrapped up perfectly in the final act. Below, we break down what happens in the ending of Longlegs, as well as what the director has to say about the conclusion. But of course, this article contains Spoilers for Longlegs so make sure you’ve seen the movie before you continue reading.

Longlegs Ending Explained SPOILERS

Maika Monroe as Lee Harker in Longlegs — (Image credit: Neon)

After weeks of tracking Nicolas Cage’s creepy serial killer Longlegs, Lee Harker, played by Maika Monroe, realizes she actually met him years ago. Yes, that prologue was actually her as a little girl when Longlegs visited her home as a child. She confronts him in an FBI interrogation room to find out who his accomplice was, as the details suggest he had someone helping him all along.

Longlegs commits suicide after telling him to talk to his mother, Ruth (Alicia Witt). Harker goes to her family home, where she finds her mother with a shotgun and the truth comes out. Longlegs has been living in the family basement building evil dolls that possess people to commit gruesome murder-suicides, and Ruth has been helping him. She is the one who enters people’s homes with the dolls, telling them they earned them through the church, before unleashing deadly satanic magic.

However, Harker collapses before he can stop his mother from going after her next target: Agent Carter and her family. She rushes to his house where her mother is already sitting with the doll, but it seems she is too late. Carter enters the kitchen with his wife, killing her off-screen, before exiting into the living room, ready to kill his daughter. Fortunately, Harker shoots him and his mother before he can.

But it’s not all over yet, as she runs out of bullets before she can shoot the doll, meaning we don’t find out what happens to her and the girl. The film ends with Longlegs blowing a kiss to the camera and saying, “Hail Satan.”

How do dolls work in Longlegs?

Long legs

(Image credit: Neon)

One of the biggest mysteries left at the end of Longlegs is how the dolls work. There seems to be something satanic and supernatural about them, as hinted at earlier in the autopsy scene, but this is never explicitly explained. It seems to be a deliberate choice on Perkins’ part.

Asked by Variety if he had an explanation, the director replied: “I know, but I won’t say. It’s part of the playful side of the devil. Wouldn’t it be pretty amazing if you brought a doll into someone’s house and it drove everyone crazy? It’s kind of funny and weird. It’s almost like you’re saying, ‘You screwed up and let him in. You didn’t have to sign for that!'”

Perkins also told the publication that some of the decisions made in the ending were inspired by one of the best serial killer thrillers ever made: David Fincher’s Seven. In particular, the decision to kill Longlegs before the end of the film, after the FBI arrested him.

“I think Kevin Spacey has three or four scenes, right? He gives himself up, he’s in the thing, and then he’s in the car and that’s the end,” Perkins says. “He’s always there, which we had with Cage too, there’s a presence of that thing, but once you get to the guy, it’s almost anticlimactic. Of course, it gets very climactic in Seven, but I like the fact that John Doe surrendered. We wanted to sort of, ‘copy’ is the wrong word, ‘borrow’ is closer to what we were doing.”

Longlegs is out now. For more, check out what the director had to say about the news story inspiration, directing Cage, and what inspired his look in the film.

We also have guides to the best horror movies of all time and every upcoming horror movie in 2024 and beyond.

Longlegs Ending Explained *SPOILERS*

Longlegs Ending Explained SPOILERS