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Osgood Perkins and Nicholas Cage's latest horror movie, Longlegs, premiered on Friday, July 12, 2024, in theaters, and caused a considerable stir among horror fans. Perkins has written and directed the film, which can be categorized as an arthouse indie thriller. Longlegs has already garnered rave reviews from critics following its release.
According to reviews, the movie portrays a repulsive, discomforting evil through terrifying imagery and a tactile atmosphere that will leave even the bravest of horror fans shaken. With a unique plotline and a talented cast, the movie promises to be one of the most terrifying releases of the year, if not the scariest horror film of the decade.
Note: This article is based on the author's opinion. Reader's discretion is advised.
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Does Longlegs draw inspiration from The Silence of the Lambs?
In an exclusive interview with the Vancouver Sun, director Osgood Perkins said that Jonathan Demme's 1991 psychological thriller, The Silence of the Lambs, blew him away. He added that he watched the movie over three decades ago, and his new film was "derived" from the Anthony Hopkins starrer. Nearly thirty years later, Perkins found a way to connect his psychological horror thriller Longlegs directly to the cult classic.
Talking about the impact The Silence of the Lambs left on him, Perkins told the Vancouver Sun that people his age would never forget how the film felt. He called it "an experience" for those interested in movies.
“I don’t think anybody my age who is interested in movies will ever forget Silence of the Lambs and the way it felt … and the way it sort of cornered the market on excellence in the genre...This was a time in the early ’90s when stuff was presented to you. You didn’t know anything about it. You’d seen a trailer at best, and you were ready to be taken over by an experience.”
The 1991 horror classic was a hit at the 1992 Academy Awards. It is still remembered today for Hopkins' stellar performance as the serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
Like The Silence of the Lambs, Perkins' Longlegs follows a female FBI agent, who is chasing a serial killer. The FBI agent, played by Maika Monroe, is similar to Jodie Foster's character, in The Silence of the Lambs, Clarice Starling, a student at the FBI Academy.
Longlegs is set in 1993, another nod to The Silence of the Lambs, and it stars Cage as the serial killer who signs his coded messages as Longlegs. With a scraggly, shoulder-length wig and full-face prosthetics, Cage is almost unrecognizable, and yet when he speaks, chills run down the viewer's spine. Cage's character, with his looks and creepy voice, is also an ode to Hopkins’ Lector.
Discussing his latest film and its lead actor, director Osgood Perkins, said that the film was all the things The Silence of the Lambs was to him. He noted that he started with that and let the film "evolve, devolve, expand, and contract from the starting point.
He said that Cage was brought to the project "in a very traditional way." The actor was given the script via "regular permissible channels."
Osgood Perkins has previously directed features like The Blackcoat’s Daughter, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, and Gretel & Hansel.
More about Perkins' 2024 horror movie: Plot and Cast list explored
Perkins' psychological horror thriller follows an up-and-coming FBI agent Lee Harker (Monroe), who is assigned the case of a Satanic serial killer known only as Longlegs. As Harker delves into the case and begins to uncover the chilling mystery, little does she realize what she is getting into.
Soon, Agent Harker discovers that the killer shares a personal connection with her. Harker finds a series of supernatural clues and becomes obsessed with cracking the case before the killer strikes again.
Nicolas Cage is the producer and titular character in the film, along with Maika Monroe as FBI Agent Lee Harker. Meanwhile, Alicia Witt plays Lee's mother Ruth, Blair Underwood plays Agent Carter, and Kiernan Shipka plays Longlegs' only survivor, Carrie Anne Camera. Dakota Daulby portrays Agent Fisk, and Michelle Choi-Lee portrays Agent Browning, among others.
Catch Longlegs now in theaters.
