What actually happens
A small girl follows a voice and meets a man in makeup
The movie opens in Oregon in 1974, where a little girl carrying a Polaroid camera trails a strange voice and runs into an unpredictable man wearing white face paint. Two decades on, FBI agent Lee Harker is assigned to a case about a string of murder-suicides in Oregon. In each one a father kills his family and then himself, and he leaves a letter with Satanic glyphs, signed Longlegs, in handwriting that does not belong to anyone in the family. Her supervisor, William Carter, sends her to look into it. Lee seems to have some kind of clairvoyance, and she manages to decode the letters.
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A birthday card with a warning on it
Lee finds that every one of the families had a nine-year-old daughter born on the 14th of the month. The murders each happened within six days of that birthday, and the dates mark out an occult triangle on a calendar, and one corner of it is blank. While Lee is on the phone with her mother, Ruth, she receives a coded birthday card from Longlegs, which warns her that if she reveals where it came from, her mother will be murdered. Following a clue, Lee and William find a doll with a dense, energetic metal orb sealed in its head. They question Carrie Anne Camera, the only survivor of Longlegs' murders, in a mental hospital, and learn that someone using Lee's name visited her before. William begins to suspect that Lee has a connection to Longlegs. Ruth once filed a police report about an intruder who came near Lee the day before her ninth birthday, so William sends Lee to talk to her. Ruth points Lee to her childhood belongings, and Lee finds a Polaroid showing that Longlegs is the man who visited her as a child.
The arrest, and the man downstairs
The scene to brace for is in the interrogation room, around the middle of the movie. Lee hands in the photo, and Longlegs is arrested. She realizes the missing date on the calendar is today, and she fears an unknown accomplice will carry out the murder. In the interrogation room Longlegs says he serves "the man downstairs" and hints that Ruth has been involved in the murders. Then he takes his own life by driving his face into the metal table over and over. Shortly after Lee leaves the room, William tells her that Carrie Anne has killed herself as well.
A basement that was always in the house
Agent Browning drives Lee to Ruth's house and waits in the car while Lee searches inside. Ruth walks up to the car and shoots Browning dead, then destroys a doll that looks like a young Lee, which knocks Lee unconscious. In a vision, Lee learns that Longlegs threatened her as a child and only spared her because Ruth begged for her life. In exchange, Longlegs demanded Ruth's servitude, so Ruth let him live in the Harker basement and make Satanic dolls. Ruth, dressed as a nun, delivered them to families, and each doll caused the father to murder his household. Lee's own doll blocked her memories of Longlegs while his magic worked on her.
The ending, explained
Lee comes to in the basement and picks up the phone, and a demonic voice on the line reminds her it is the day of the ninth birthday party for William's daughter Ruby. Lee races to rescue the Carters, because their deaths would fill in the last corner of Longlegs' triangle. She is too late: Ruth has dropped off the doll, and the family is already possessed. William kills his wife, Anna, and Lee shoots him to protect Ruby. Ruth then lunges at Ruby with a dagger, and Lee has to kill her too. Lee goes for the doll with her gun, which turns out to be out of bullets. She puts the gun down and tells Ruby they have to go, but the two of them keep staring at the doll. Back in the cell where he died, Longlegs cheerfully sings "Happy Birthday" to Lee, says "Hail, Satan" and blows a kiss.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, and the only dog is heard barking and never seen.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Longlegs scary?
Yes, Longlegs is a 7 out of 10. It has a couple of jump scares involving Longlegs, and most of the fear is occult dread that can follow you around for a few nights.
How does Longlegs end?
Lee shoots William and Ruth to protect Ruby, but the doll is still there and both of them keep staring at it. In his cell, Longlegs happily sings Happy Birthday to Lee.
Does the dog die in Longlegs?
No dog dies in Longlegs. A dog is heard barking and never seen, and a cat is shown alive in a carrier.
Is there a post-credits scene in Longlegs?
No. Longlegs has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who is Longlegs in Longlegs?
Longlegs is the man in pale makeup who visited Lee as a child. He makes Satanic dolls in the Harker basement, and Lee's mother Ruth delivers them to families, which causes each father to kill his family.
