Maika Monroe's heart rate peaks at 170 bpm during LONGLEGS promo with Nicolas Cage

Director Osgood Perkins' horror film LongLegs released in theatres on July 12, 2024. The promotional videos and events for the film are doing quite a lot to spark curiosity and a bit of a scare into the audience's minds. The trailer for the film is well-edited and captures the essence of the story without giving away too much.

However, a promo video released by Neon on July 9, 2024, caught a lot of attention. It features Maika Monroe, who plays the main character Agent Lee Harker. The video shows footage of when Maika saw Nicolas Cage as the beast LongLegs for the first time while shooting.

In the terrifying video, Maika's heart rate spikes to 170 bpm when she sees the film's villain. The marketing team of the film captured her fright perfectly, hinting at how scary Cage is going to look.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for LongLegs (2024).

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What did Maika Monroe do in the LongLegs promo?

Neon released a promotional video for the film, in which they recorded Maika Monroe's heartbeat when she saw Nicolas Cage in costume as the villain for the first time on set.

The video starts by showing the sets, and the direction team's voices echoing in the background. Maika enters the frame when 'action' is called, going into an interrogation room setup.

Here, she sees Nicolas Cage in character, though his face is not revealed to the audience. The sound of a rapidly increasing heartbeat is heard in the video. The text appearing on the screen after that moment reads:

"Maika's resting heart rate is 76 bpm. In this scene, it hit 170 bpm."

Throughout the trailer and promotional events for the film, Nicolas Cage's appearance as the horror villain has never been revealed before the film's release.

In the promo, a quote from Maika was included, where she spoke about her emotion in the scene:

"When I walked in and saw Nicolas Cage for the first time as LongLegs, that was a visceral experience I'll never forget."

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What is LongLegs about? Plot explored

Maika Monroe as Agent Lee Harker in the film (via Neon)

The film is a horror murder mystery, revolving around FBI Agent Lee Harker. Harker is assigned an unsolved case and instructed to find a serial killer. She is shown to have psychic powers in the movie, which help her detect whether something is wrong.

As she tries to find the serial killer, Harker's instincts tell her that there is some supernatural evil at play.

Harker uses old Satanic codes to decipher the messages that the murderer leaves at the scenes of crime. She realizes that the serial killer is actually an occult beast named LongLegs, who uses possessed dolls to achieve his goal.

By putting a part of his own spirit in the handmade dolls gifted to little girls, the beast is able to take control over families' minds and force them into killing each other.

At the end of the film, Harker comes to know of her own connection with the story. LongLegs had initially targeted Harker as a victim, but her mother Ruth had made a deal with the devil. She started delivering the possessed dolls to children on their birthdays on her own.

After discovering this, Harker interrupts one such birthday and shoots her mother.

However, she is unable to shoot and destroy the possessed doll. The film ends on this chilling note, with the realization that Harker is also probably under the spell of the doll now.

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Audiences can watch the film in theatres from July 12, 2024 onwards.