This year’s new horror film is said to be the scariest movie of the century, netting an 86% critic approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though the withheld acclaim has not come without its dissenters.

“Longlegs” was directed by Osgood Perkins, son of Psycho actor Anthony Perkins – a fact alone that makes him something of horror movie royalty. Perkins takes the classic movie plot of an FBI agent pursuing a serial killer before he continues wreaking havoc, and expertly directs a fiercely skilled cast, wielding some of the most chilling and off-putting performances in recent memory.

Perhaps the most praised of these performers has been, deservedly so, Nicholas Cage (“Ghost Rider”, “National Treasure”, “Face/Off”) as the titular character and psychotic serial killer being pursued by Maika Monroe (“It Follows”, “Watcher”, “The 5th Wave”) as an FBI agent.

This film takes place in Oregon in the 1990s, with Longlegs targeting families with children while evading Monroe, who experiences strange visions along her pursuit.

Horror movies are seldomly box office blockbusters in the same way that your typical action adventure is, but for an indie-released horror flick with no previous intellectual property to spend $10 million and return from the box office with $100 million speaks to the director’s success, as well as the cast.

While some reviewers are comparing the film to “Silence of the Lambs” FBI agent plot thread, countless positive reviews point towards the unnerving and downright terrifying portrayal of the serial killer by Cage, which also mirrors the “Silence of the Lambs” Hannibal Lecter role that was likewise praised for Anthony Hopkins’s own acclaimed performance.

While many reviews confirm its frightening and unsettling nature, there are dissenters who claim the film doesn’t live up to its reputation. One IMDB review said, “It was so overhyped” while another states that it’s not a bad film “but it’s not the movie that influencers and marketing people sold us.”

Perhaps the biggest praise for any horror film is the consensus that Cage’s performance, like the film, are regarded as “genuinely and properly upsetting” by a number of reviewers, which bodes well for Longlegs’s place in classic horror film iconography.