Longlegs Ending Explained: What Happens in the Nicolas Cage Serial Killer Movie?

Longlegs is now streaming on Hulu-Disney+, giving a much wider pool of viewers the chance to experience one of 2024’s most talked-about horror films. There were several key reasons why Longlegs became such a viral sensation, one of them being the marketing, which promised yet another “scariest movie of all time” experience; the other reason was the film’s big twist, which was a make-or-break turn for a lot of viewers. The first time that many people watch Longlegs they’ll probably walk away with more questions about what the film reveals, and what the ending means. That’s where we come in.

Here’s everything you need to know about Longlegs‘ story and the ending.

Longlegs is Really A Supernatural Occult Story

The first thing that needs to be clarified about Longlegs is the framework of its story. The trailers for the film sold it as a serial killer mystery with a dark Noir edge – a film in the vein of The Silence of the Lambs with its female FBI agent protagonist (Maika Monroe), and creepy serial killer antagonist (Nic Cage). However, writer-director Osgood Perkins (The Monkey) actually blends sub-genres of horror together to create its big twist. Yes, the serial killer horror mystery is the sheepskin covering, but it really disguises a supernatural occult story.

The real story of Longlegs is about how Maika Monroe’s Agent Lee Harker was almost one of Longlegs’ (aka Dale Kobble) earliest victims on her ninth birthday. Instead, her mother Ruth (Alicia Witt) negotiated a literal and figurative ‘deal with the devil’ to spare Lee’s life. In exchange for getting to live, Ruth (a former nurse) became a servant of Satan: Longlegs would craft immaculate dolls as gifts, and Ruth (posing as a nun) would deliver them to little girls on their 9th birthdays, with the dolls serving as Trojan Horses for black metal orbs filled with Satanic influence. Once inside the homes, the dolls would exert satanic influence over the families, causing the fathers to murder the wives and kids (and themselves) within six days of the birthday, leaving other family, friends, and law enforcement all baffled.

Longlegs Ending Explained

In the final act of Longlegs, Lee discovers that her Mother is Longlegs’ surviving accomplice after the killer ends his own life by bashing his face into the table of a police interrogation room. When Ruth takes a shotgun to the doll that Longlegs made for Lee, it knocks Lee out but also releases Satan’s influence, which had blocked her memories (while also granting her minor psychic abilities). An unconscious Lee is finally able to recall her childhood encounter with Longlegs and realizes that the killer has been living in her mother’s basement since that time. She also knows that Ruth and Longlegs owe Satan a final victim, to complete the ritual killings within locations that form a satanic triangle.

It turns out that while Lee was asleep, Ruth had approached the final victim: Ruby (Ava Kelders), the nine-year-old daughter of Agent Carter (Blair Underwood), Lee’s FBI superior. Lee gets to Ruby’s birthday party just as the dark influence is taking hold. Ruth explains her role as Satan’s servant and justifies it as the only way to protect Lee. Agent Carter is taken by the evil and slaughters his wife Anna (Carmel Amit) in the kitchen; Lee shoots Carter down before he can also kill Ruby, and also shoots her mother in the head to protect the young girl.

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However, when Lee tries to shoot Ruby’s doll and free the young girl of Satan’s influence for good, she finds that her revolver inexplicably will not fire anymore. The movie ends with Lee imploring Ruby that they need to run and physically distance themselves from Satan’s remaining influence. It’s not an ending that screams “hope,” though: many of the themes in Longlegs‘ story have to do with having one’s life path carved out and controlled by forces beyond our control – and all the impact it has on who we are. In that sense, both Lee and Ruby are still far from safe, even though they survived the immediate danger.

Longlegs is now streaming on Hulu-Disney+; Osgood Perkins’ latest film The Monkey is now in theaters.