After you watch a horror movie, you probably cannot sleep for a night as the fear gets to you. Then there are horror movie endings that crawl under your skin, pitch a tent and refuse to leave your mind. Longlegs ending belongs to the second category. Directed by Oz Perkins and starring Nicholas Cage in one of his creepiest performances to date, the film is part police procedural, part nightmare and part twisted fairy tale.
What should you expect from it? A chilling story about childhood trauma, the unshakable grip of evil and the unsettling ways family secrets can define us. It isn’t about cheap jump scares. It’s about the slow dread of realizing that sometimes evil doesn’t just lurk outside, it lives in the basement. And when the final credits roll, the Longlegs ending will leave you rattled, confused and arguing with your friend about what it all means.
This article breaks it all down. We’ll go through the shocking twists, the heartbreaking family revelations and the haunting final images that refuse to give easy answers.
⚠️ Spoiler Alert: Still planning to watch? Then consider this your last chance. From here on out, spoilers will swarm this article faster than Nicolas Cage chewing scenery. If you stick around, don’t complain when the Longlegs ending stings harder than a jump scare in Dolby surround.
The Big Reveal: Mom’s Dark Deal
The ending of Longlegs starts with a gut-punch revelation. After years of chasing the sadistic killer Dale “Longlegs” Cobble, Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) finally gets her answers. Longlegs dies in interrogation, but not before hinting at someone close to Lee. The trail leads home to her mother, Ruth.
Turns out Ruth has been Longlegs’ accomplice all along. Years earlier, when Lee was a child, Ruth struck a deal to keep her daughter alive. In exchange, she agreed to help Longlegs deliver cursed dolls to targeted families. These dolls weren’t toys. They carried orbs of pure demonic influence. Once inside a home, the orb corrupted the father into murdering his family.
And where were these dolls made? In the Harker family basement. Yep, evil was literally living under their roof. To protect Lee, Ruth even kept one doll modeled after her hidden away, suppressing Lee’s childhood memories. In the finale, Ruth smashes it and suddenly everything comes rushing back.
The Carter Home Horror
Just when you think the nightmare has peaked, things escalate. Ruth continues her work, still convinced she’s protecting Lee by serving evil. Her next delivery? A doll to the family of Lee’s boss, Agent Carter.
By the time Lee arrives, it’s too late. Carter has already fallen under the doll’s spell. He kills his wife and Lee is forced to shoot him before he can murder his daughter Ruby. It’s brutal, tragic and personal.
Then comes the final showdown. Ruth insists the killings must continue, claiming it’s the only way to keep Lee safe from damnation. Lee refuses. To save Ruby and end the twisted cycle, she does the unthinkable, she shoots her own mother.
Evil Never Dies: The Final Ambiguity
You’d think that killing Carter and Ruth would wrap things up. But the Longlegs ending doesn’t believe in tidy conclusions. After the bloodbath, Lee tries to destroy the doll by shooting the orb in its head, just like Ruth had once done with hers. The gun clicks. Empty.
The doll remains intact. Ruby clings to it. And then comes the chilling capper: a lingering shot of the untouched doll while Nicolas Cage’s disembodied voice sings, sometimes “Happy Birthday”, sometimes “Hail Satan”, depending on the cut. Fade to black.
It’s a mic-drop moment. Evil wins!
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What The Longlegs Ending Means
So what’s going on here? Perkins leaves us with layers of interpretation, but here are the key themes that define the finale:
- Trauma as the Devil’s Playground: Lee isn’t just hunting a killer. She’s untangling her own childhood trauma. Discovering that her mother was complicit in the murders and that her memories were deliberately suppressed makes her the final victim of Longlegs’ cruel game.
- The System is Rigged: Ruth believed her actions kept Lee safe. But her obedience only strengthened the cycle. The ending of Longlegs suggests that bargains with evil are always traps. You don’t outsmart the devil, you just delay the pain.
- Evil is Bigger Than One Monster: Longlegs may be dead, but the doll survives. That’s the point. Evil isn’t just a person. It’s an idea, a contagion, a demonic force that keeps finding new vessels. The doll, untouched and glowing with menace, embodies this unstoppable endurance.
- The Ambiguity of Lee’s Fate: Some fans interpret the ending as Lee becoming the next vessel. She failed to destroy the doll, and her long psychic connection to Longlegs makes her vulnerable. Whether she carries the torch knowingly or unwillingly, the devil may have chosen her as the replacement.
Why The Ending Works
The Longlegs ending refuses to spoon-feed answers. Instead, it leaves you with unease. Did Lee actually stop anything? Or did she just push the nightmare onto someone else? The lack of resolution is what makes it so effective. Horror lingers when the monster isn’t dead but waiting.
For longtime fans of Perkins’ work, this is his signature move. He twists classic horror tropes, serial killers, cursed objects, family secrets, into something surreal and deeply psychological. You don’t walk out comforted. You walk out unsettled, which is exactly the point.
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Final Thoughts
Longlegs ending is messy, tragic and unforgettable. It reveals Lee’s family’s darkest secrets, forces her to commit the ultimate act against her mother and still refuses her victory. The doll lives on, Evil laughs in the background. And Lee is left broken, haunted and possibly marked for the future.
That’s why the finale stings. It doesn’t let us leave the theater thinking the battle is won. Instead, it asks us to sit with the reality that some evils can’t be destroyed. They adapt, they endure and they wait for the next victim to pick up the cursed doll.
For horror fans, it’s Lanthimos-level bleakness filtered through Perkins’ own twisted lens. And honestly? I loved every second of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who was Longlegs’ accomplice?
Lee’s mother, Ruth, made a deal with Longlegs years ago. She delivered the cursed dolls to families as part of her bargain to protect Lee.
2. Why couldn’t Lee destroy the doll?
Her gun clicked empty. Whether from bad luck or supernatural interference, the doll remained unharmed, symbolizing evil’s persistence.
3. Does the ending mean Lee is the new vessel?
Possibly. Many fans believe her long connection to Longlegs and failure to end the curse hint that she may inherit her mother’s role.