Longlegs is a more effective freak show than FBI story. The direction of Osgood Perkins often shows a mastery at building tension and establishing a chilling tone. When the final act arrives, I grew colder to its energy as the plot points became more recognizable. That might be a little misleading, however, since this does feature a bonkers performance even by Nicolas Cage’s standards. When the procedural itself becomes more standard, it can suffer.

Maika Monroe is Agent Lee Harker, who can’t have been in the Bureau for long but whose seemingly psychic abilities serve as an asset. The manhunt is on for Longlegs, a serial killer dabbling in the occult and intricate doll making. His young female victims also share birthdays that fall on the 14th of the month.

Set in the 90s as evidenced by the Bill Clinton portrait behind her superior’s desk, Agent Harker seems to share more than a psychic connection to the case. Her off-kilter mother (Alicia Witt) seems hung up on religious themes. You begin to suspect that the case may have relations with that woman.

Barely seen or heard in the trailers, Mr. Cage is the title character. Buried in makeup that could earn those artists awards nominations, this is Nic at his most uncaged. There are snippets of his work that will surely enter the Memeification Hall of Fame and there are aspects of his performance that certainly remind us of his wild versatility. It’s also occasionally challenging to look beyond the off the charts Caginess of it.

The short of it is that Longlegs works best when the mystery is unraveling and its secrets are obscured like Cage was in the ads. As more is revealed, it loses some edge. Yet there is no doubt that Perkins (son of Psycho Anthony Perkins) injects this with devilish details that provide anxiety, especially early on.

*** (out of four)