A billboard promoting Osgood Perkins’ upcoming crime-horror, ‘Longlegs’ | Photo credit: X/ @longlegsfilm
Let’s face it; the horror movie marketing playbook is a predictably well-trodden path. Roll out the monster, cue the jump scare, rinse and repeat. Every other horror movie pats itself on the back with a “scariest of the decade” prompt flashing across the screen, lyrically describing its new indie filmmaker’s experimental new take on the genre, “never seen before”.
But Neon is doing some work. Strange things,
The production company’s marketing team has crafted a symphony of suspense that somehow feels like a cold sweat on a sultry summer night. It’s a remarkably Hitchcockian exercise in heightening fear and curiosity, sending shivers down your skin before a single frame has flickered on screen. Neon has managed to carve out a unique niche for Osgood Perkins long legs; His approach to the much-anticipated crime-horror is to embrace the unknown and make it the central attraction of the film.
The initial teaser was released very casually in January. It was a visual puzzle – a 36-second clip featuring creepy photos of blood-soaked rooms and a frightening 911 call. No plot spoilers, no obvious hints, just a vague glimpse of something sinister. Enough to send the internet into a frenzy, with fans analyzing every frame with forensic precision in search of answers.
Neon’s strategy is a love letter to the viral marketing tactics of found-footage giants, Cloverfield And The Blair Witch ProjectWhere mystery has always been the secret ingredient.
Posters soon followed in February, along with a few more creepy bits, and then finally a full trailer in April. They revealed just enough to keep viewers intrigued, but never so much as to spoil the surprise. This breadcrumb approach kept viewers hooked, forcing them to become detectives. It’s a feat that’s rare in the growing age of instant gratification, where spoilers and overexposure kill the buzz around a film before it’s even released.
Following this, Neon’s campaign launched a series of similarly mysterious releases. Their strategy has been to make the audience an active participant in the horror, inviting them to solve puzzles and experience fear firsthand. Each teaser, each poster, was another tantalizing taste of its sinister mysteries, drawing the audience even deeper into this intriguing rabbit hole.
The most striking feature? A phone number on a billboard in Los Angeles. Dial it and you’ll hear Nicolas Cage’s character whispering nice things in a voice that could curdle milk. It was a brilliant piece of guerrilla marketing that demonstrated a deep understanding of horror’s core appeal: fear of the unknown.
What makes Neon’s campaign reminiscent of the golden age of film marketing is that it makes movies special, almost like forbidden fruit. Unlike the sensibilities of the digital age, there was a time when you couldn’t Google every single detail about a film. You had to wait with bated breath for the next piece of information, the next piece of the puzzle. Instant access often diminishes the magic and charm long legs The campaign capitalizes on this almost antiquated notion and crafts an experience that feels timeless and extremely effective.
Neon seems to have capitalized on the film’s strengths beautifully. Even Perkins himself acknowledged Neon’s brilliance in handling promotion; in an interview, he revealed that he gave Neon a free hand to go ahead with their strategy, a decision that clearly paid off.
Then, there’s the movie itself. long legs It’s not just riding a wave of clever marketing. The early reviews are in, and critics are praising it as a new horror benchmark. Set in the ’90s, starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage, it’s a dark, demonic serial killer story that fundamentally seems to be asking: what if in horror the silence of the Lambs was on steroids?
Cage, wearing white face paint and speaking dialogue in a creepy high-pitched voice, plays a killer who plans gruesome murders from afar. He has previously described his role as a man who “hears voices” and compared his character to a “possessed Geppetto” who creates disturbing dolls. By hiding Cage’s character extensively in promotional materials, they’ve created an aura of malevolence and menace around him that we’ve never seen him do before (and this is Nic Cage we’re talking about).
Reactions from early screenings have also been pretty chilling. Viewers have dubbed Longlegs “the scariest movie of the year” on social media, though there may be some truth to their praise this time around.
X has since praised the film’s terrifying feel, with each detail more outrageous than the last. Many have waxed lyrical about Perkins’ constant dread and the carefully crafted horror atmosphere that feels generated by the Antichrist himself. Reports of audience members crying and fleeing the theater in fear have added to the film’s legend.
As we approach the film’s release in mid-July, the buzz shows no signs of slowing down. Lately, marketing strategies for film and TV have made us skeptical, where hype inevitably and unwittingly turns into disappointment in most cases. But long legs It looks like it’s already cemented its status as a must-see theatrical experience. It feels like a genuine ‘major motion picture event’ that can be trusted to deliver on its vague promises and then some.
long legs Will be released in theatres on 12th July.
