Longlegs · reception & legacy

How Longlegs has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Rode one of the most hyped horror rollouts in years to a monster indie opening in July 2024 — critics called it the scariest film of the decade — then word-of-mouth curdled fast, with audiences crying overhype. Two years on it's settled as 2024 horror's great love-it-or-hate-it flashpoint.

What's debated

The eternal Longlegs fight: was the film itself great, or was the marketing campaign the real masterpiece — with the third act as Exhibit A for the prosecution.

Its footprint

Neon's cryptic campaign — coded cipher ads, a phone line you could actually call, trailers that hid Nicolas Cage's face entirely — became a cultural event in its own right, and Cage's unrecognizable, shrieking Longlegs instantly entered his gallery of memeable performances.

Where it stands

A Letterboxd lightning rod: the defining 'was it worth the hype?' horror film of the 2020s, guaranteed to start an argument in any comments section.

Named by the director

Influences Osgood Perkins has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

• The Silence of the Lambs (1991) — Perkins openly acknowledged it as the film's foundational touchstone — the FBI-agent-versus-evil template Longlegs deliberately wears on its sleeve.
• Se7en (1995) — Perkins cited it among the 1990s serial-killer procedurals whose dread-soaked language the film consciously speaks.