Psychopaths, Satanism and Nicolas Cage: ‘Longlegs’ is the horror film that triumphs thanks to a unique marketing campaign

Everyone is talking about ‘Longlegs’. The horror sensation of the year was released just a couple of weeks ago in the United States but it already has all the papers to be crowned as one of the best films of the genre, also in a season that is brimming with high-impact horror films. Its secrets: the dark and relentless approach, a unique Nicolas Cage and a marketing campaign that has taken the Internet by surprise.

The numbers. With a budget of less than 10 million dollars, a ridiculous amount even within the modest margins of horror cinema (the last installment of ‘The Conjuring’ cost almost 40 million) and a box office take of 70 million in just three weeks, it has thus become the best indie horror release in history, above another recent surprise success of the genre, ‘Talk to Me’. The film has put its distributor, Neon, in the forefront, which has thus surpassed its previous success, the Oscar-winning ‘Parasites’.

What is it about? There are plot touches of ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (although it goes in other directions) in the story of an FBI agent who finds herself in the middle of an investigation that she finds meaningless: a series of murders that occurred decades ago and that seem to have a connection of occult overtones. They all seem to be linked to a serial killer who signs his crimes as Longlegs, and with whom she experiences a curious connection given the peculiar premonitory powers he is manifesting.

But… is it so special? The synopsis is just the beginning of the story, as what’s special about the film is the way it dives into a sick and obsessive atmosphere, marked by the presence not only of the agent (the indie horror icon Maika Monroe, whom we remember from ‘It Follows’ and ‘The Guest’), but also of the elusive serial killer played by Nicolas Cage and about whom the less you know the better (including his appearance!). ‘Longlegs’, with its viscous rhythm and full of enigmas, is not for everyone, but whoever manages to immerse himself in its genuinely evil atmosphere (enhanced by a Sound design by Eugenio Battaglia absolutely Machiavellian and Satanic) will get its reward in the form of good existential uneasiness.

A unique campaign. The ‘Longlegs’ campaign has been a master class on how to arouse the viewer’s curiosity without deceiving them: campaigns often inflate expectations and then fail to meet them. In this case, The advertising pointed out a perverse, dark, even dangerous film. And ‘Longlegs’ is exactly that.

Heart beats. Neon knew they were going to release the movie in the summer, but they started showing material already in January, in enigmatic teasers and where the face of his star was not shownNicolas Cage. But in addition to that, they invented unique promotions, such as the recording of Maika Monroe’s real heartbeat speeding up from 76 to 170 beats per minute the first time she saw Nicolas Cage in character. All of this was in keeping with the idea, a game that viewers and filmmakers are happy to play, that the images in the teasers and the film itself are “cursed.”

Old-school ideas. The promotion was rounded off with the publication of a telephone number that could be called to listen to a message Nicolas Cage as Longlegs. Or the creation of a delightfully old-fashioned website, straight out of the ninetieswhich investigates the crimes of the serial killer in the film.

A film by Oz Perkins. Anthony Perkins’ son has a very special relationship with the horror genre. He briefly played his own father in his most iconic role at the age of twelve, Norman Bates, in the highly-respectable ‘Psycho II’. His career as a director has mostly moved within the margins of the genre, which caught the attention of the audience with the excellent ‘Gretel & Hansel. A Dark Fairy Tale’. But it is undoubtedly with this ‘Longlegs’ that he has become one of the key names to follow in the most relentless and disturbing horror cinema.

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