Guillermo del Toro is praising Osgood Perkins‘ “Longlegs,” which scared up theaters over the weekend with a box office opening of over $22 million.
The horror film starring Maika Monroe as an FBI agent hunting Nicolas Cage — who plays a Satanic serial killer in prosthetics, white face powder, and lipstick — has become a viral hit. “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Pinocchio” director Del Toro tweeted praise for the film on July 14.
“A great Oz Perkins film, 100 percent his vibe,” del Toro wrote. “It is comforting when a colleague fares well while staying faithful to the rhythms and motifs that have made his career. His metronome, his meticulous composition, and his uncanny sense of evil and impending doom.”
He continued, “It’s not horror as usual, or a thriller as usual. It bares the same preoccupations Oz has had from the start and his Cosmic dread. It is his vibe and signature and I am delighted he is getting more people to know it.”
According to del Toro, Cage’s transformation into Longlegs demonstrates the actor as “our last and best expressionist performer.”
“Loved that evil Tiny-Tim-esque Cage (our last and best expressionist performer) the Satanic Panic gloom: a closed maze where evil eats the casual stroller,” del Toro tweeted. “And Perkins’ odd, super-dry (quasi exfoliating) humor: T-Rex, the occasional ironic line, ‘You’ll still be in the kitchen.’”
“Longlegs” centers on FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) who tracks Longlegs (Cage) in the 1990s. However, Lee realizes she has a surprising connection with Longlegs, and has to unravel her own past to catch him before his next slaughter.
Perkins writes and directs the film, which co-stars Kiernan Shipka in a “Rosemary’s Baby” hairstyle and with a chilling monologue reminiscent of “The Omen.” Shipka previously starred in Perkins’ “The Blackcoat’s Daughter.”
What Cage’s Longlegs looked like was hidden from the film’s marketing campaign to keep his onscreen reveal as shocking as possible.
Outside of del Toro’s praise, though, fellow filmmaker Paul Schrader had a different take, drawing a comparison between “Longlegs” and “MaXXXine.”
“Osgood is clearly a talented director, but, like Ti West, is confined by the horror genre ghetto,” Schrader posted on Facebook. “What is it about independent film that talented young filmmakers can only find financing and distribution in the horror genre?”
In a comment, Schrader clarified his feelings about horror.
“It’s beneath ‘seriousness,’” Schrader wrote. “Westerns, gangster films, spy thrillers, and other genres can be remodeled and exploited to convey serious issues and conundrums. Horror films seem to me the most resistant to this upgrade. For the most part, their raison d’etre is horror itself.”
Read “Longlegs” writer/director Perkins’ full interview with IndieWire about his inspiration for the film.
