Longlegs ending: So... who was his accomplice and what was the deal with the dolls?

This article includes major spoilers for the movie Longlegs.

Longlegs is one of those movies that leaves a lot unexplained or ambiguous, allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions. The film introduces many ideas and concepts, like Lee potentially being psychic, satanism, meaningful birthdays, occult symbols, and creepy dolls.

You will be left with questions, but that's part of the appeal. For instance, we don't find out why Longlegs uses coded messages (probably just to be extra creepy), though Lee does learn how to decipher them.

Who is Longleg's secret accomplice?

During the film's final act, we learn that Lee's mother, Ruth Harker, had a horrifying encounter with the killer when Lee was just a little girl. In exchange for Lee's life, Ruth became Longlegs' lifelong accomplice.

Perhaps one of the most chilling scenes in the movie is when Lee gets knocked unconscious and wakes up inside Longlegs' creepy doll workshop, only to walk up the stairs and realize the workshop is in the basement of her childhood home. That means Longlegs was living and working in the basement the entire time. Even the car in the outdoor garage is the same one we saw him driving earlier in the movie. It's a terrifying parallel, knowing how close he was to Lee pretty much her entire life.

Ruth's role involved her dressing up as a nun and bringing uncanny dolls created by Longlegs to his victims' homes. Each doll contained a mysterious metal ball that acted as a kind of satanic trigger to release the devil's influence into the home, causing the men (the fathers of each murdered family) to snap and kill their wives, daughters, and then themselves.

Disguised as a nun, Ruth would visit the homes on the daughters' birthdays (all of them born on the 14th of any given month) and claim they won a prize from the church. The doll. Once the girl opened her gift, the slaughter would commence.

Even though the metal balls are supposedly hollow inside, we do see one get cracked open and the interior releases a burst of black smoke, indicative of whatever creepy witchcraft or black magic Longlegs imbues them with. Plus, the dolls always come draped in a black sheet, so the act of lifting the sheet feels like a symbolic "lifting of the veil" between the world and Hell. Satan is obviously meant to be the "man downstairs" referred to throughout the film.

In the final scene of the movie, Lee is too late to stop her mother from delivering one of the dolls to her colleague, Agent Carter, and his family. There's nothing she can do but watch helplessly as things play out according to plan. Carter murders his wife, but Lee does manage to shoot him and her own mom before they can kill Carter's daughter, Ruby. Still, when Lee goes to shoot the Ruby doll, her gun misfires. Why? That's left ambiguous. Perhaps she was still performing part of Satan's plan without even realizing it.

What's interesting is that the Lee doll isn't utilized in any murders because of Ruth's bargain, but left untouched, whatever magic or spellwork harbored inside it may have resulted in Lee having psychic abilities. The film ends with Lee unable to destroy Ruby's doll, suggesting it will remain and the cycle might continue. This is further evidenced by the movie's final frame showing Longlegs, indicating that he lives on in some way, shape, or form.

Theory: Could Longlegs secretly be Lee's biological father?

There is a sort of twisted implication that the serial killer Longlegs could be Lee Harker's biological father. For one thing, we never see or hear any mention of who Lee's dad is and in all the murders Longlegs commits, it's always the father getting controlled and then killing the others. There's also the fact that when someone says "longlegs" the first thought most of us have are to the arachnids known as "Daddy Longlegs." That had to have been an intentional decision to name him that, even if it's not necessarily true that he was her dad.

During a flashback, we see the first time Longlegs supposedly met Lee and her mother; Longlegs is shown hogtieing Ruth Harker on the kitchen floor. It's the only time we see Longlegs physically doing something to harm another person. It would make sense, right? Longlegs was following the pattern of a "father" killing his wife and then the daughter. The only difference is that Ruth bargains for Lee's life, thus changing things to make her an accomplice so Lee can live. Of course, that doesn't confirm Longlegs is Lee's dad, it's just a possible theory.

What are your Longlegs theories? The movie is now playing in theaters nationwide. To stay up to date on thrillers, sci-fi, and horror, bookmark 1428 Elm and follow our Facebook page and Twitter account!