Forget rivaling A24’s horror movies anymore, Neon’sLonglegsis quickly entering a box office bracket normally occupied by franchise films from major studios. On its lucky 13th day of release, the moviepassed the $50 million mark at the domestic box office, having already emerged as the year’s second-biggest horror hit behindA Quiet Place: Day One.Longlegsis punching well above its weight, having been produced on a reported budget of less than $10 million. By comparison,A Quiet Place: Day Onecost over six times as much.
Longlegs’ $50 million domestic haul puts it ahead of A24 horror hits such asHereditary($44 million) andTalk to Me($48 million). The movie has alsoalready overtaken the lifetime domestic totals of recent horror moviessuch asMaXXXine($13 million),Tarot($18 million),The First Omen($20 million),Abigail($25 million),Imaginary($28 million),Night Swim($32 million), andThe Strangers: Chapter 1($35 million). Additionally, it’s around a day or two away from passingBong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winningParasiteto become Neon’s top-grossing domestic box office release of all time.
Directed byOsgood Perkinsand starringMaika MonroeandNicolas Cage,Longlegswas sold as a throwback to serial killer movies such asJonathan Demme’sThe Silence of the LambsandKiyoshi Kurosawa’sCure. But audiences soon discovered that it had more than a few tricks up its sleeve, and that its procedural premise was just that; a premise.Longlegsturned out to be more of a supernatural horror than its viral marketing had initially let on, although a recent gimmick attempted to lure audiences back into theaters for a rewatch by revealing that Perkins hashidden over 15 appearances of the Devilin some scenes.
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The movie now finds itself trailing franchise horror releases such asInsidious: Chapter 3($52 million),Saw X($53 million),Paranormal Activity 4($54 million),Candyman($61 million),Halloween Ends($64 million), andThe Exorcist: Believer($65 million). In addition to its strong box office performance,Longlegshas been acclaimed for Perkins’ atmospheric direction, and for Cage’s performance as the titular serial killer who may or may not possess dark magical powers. The movie holds a “fresh” 86% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with Collider’sRoss Bonaimepraising Cage inhis reviewand describing his performance as “nightmare fuel.” You can watchLonglegsin theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
A chilling horror thriller directed by Osgood Perkins. The film stars Maika Monroe as Lee Harker, a promising new FBI agent assigned to solve the mystery of an elusive serial killer played by Nicolas Cage. As Harker delves deeper into the case, she uncovers disturbing evidence of occult practices connected to the murders.
