10 Best Performances From 2024 Horror Movies

3. Nicolas Cage - Longlegs

Smile 2 Naomi Scott
Neon

Nicolas Cage's streak of fascinating genre film roles continues with his utterly mesmerising performance in Osgood Perkins' horror-thriller Longlegs, where he portrays the titular serial killer.

Though Cage's role in the film is smaller than many expected, he makes every single second count. Aided by a ton of facial prosthetics, Cage absolutely disappears into the antagonist role, giving a terrifyingly unhinged, unpredictable performance quite like nothing else he's ever given us before. It feels like a part tailor-made for Cage's off-the-wall instincts as a performer - at times unexpectedly hilarious and always incredibly unsettling.

For anyone who felt that Nic Cage was too much of a meme today to be genuinely terrifying, Longlegs offered up persuasive evidence to the contrary, the actor immersing himself fully in the role, enough that co-star Maika Monroe reported being legitimately scared the first time she saw him in makeup on set.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.