In Defense of Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs

2024 was a rollercoaster for the cinemas this year. The anticipated films teased for this year fulfilled or frustrated audiences. Of all the years I’ve been loving films, this was one for the books. When Osgood Perkins’ film “Longlegs” came up through the streams, people wanted to see what would be called “ The scariest film of 2024.”

Then as I planned to see it in the theaters, I saw the reaction was “just Ok.” This went from being hyped to just reacting blankly. That was enough to interest me because the movie looked too good to be ”Just Ok.”

I admit after I watched it two times. It was more than Just Ok. But I could see where this film wasn’t everyone’s taste. It’s a slow burn film that makes you work for the ending.

For a film clocking in a time frame of an hour and forty-seven minutes, that was an odd complaint to find out. But the long pauses on atmospheric moments that made me hold my breath as if something was going to happen in that moment. With horror films the screen serves as our barrier, the threats remain on that screen but the longer it paused the panic startsto kick in if something will pop up in any corner.

I took the time to scroll through the trivia. I feel the trivia is an under utilized tool that give the answer that gets lost in the reviews. The inspiration behind Longlegs wasn’t just David Fincher films and The Silence of the lambs. It was his own mother.

Berry Berenson was the widow of Anthony Perkins. She is forever tied to the man who made a new nightmare about serial killers with mommy issues (Showers would never be the same). However, his mother kept some secrets that Hollywood still whispered in the grapevines about the Psycho star. Anthony Perkins was a closeted gay man who had several affairs with men in the 50s. Some of them like Tab Hunter acknowledged the relationship and others remain silent. His marriage to Berry was the chance to have children. It’s not uncommon to hear this, it was revealed by one of the first gay men of Hollywood, his former parter Tab Hunter. Tab along with several people knew about Anthony Perkins being gay. This was a secret that shouldn’t have been found out through the grapevines of Hollywood. But the one person he wanted to hear this from, could never tell him or never tell him. When she died in the plane crash of 911 that question would never be answered and that story of her side would never be told.

Finding this piece of trivia changed the way I saw this film. On the second watch it became much clearer. The character of Lee Harker was more then just Clarice Starling 2.0. His story about a mother that held a secret that messed with her life in a silent severity was Osgood’s. When a creator self-inserts their own story for the sake of a character is a risky gamble, but since Osgood never talked about it until this movie, it makes a different impact.

Longlegs is one of those films that might need some more time to marinate in the media. We’ve had films that had a rough response at the beginning and get a second chance down the line. There are good ideas here that tried to do something unique while being an honor to the films that influenced it. I went into this film thinking it was just another Silence of the Lambs fan movie and left with a high respect for Osgood Perkins.

I tell this to anyone who hasn’t seen Longlegs yet to give it a second chance. There are many takeaways from this, it just leaves a trail for those who want to follow. Osgood Perkins gave a once in a lifetime story that shows how the Perkins bloodline of storytelling is not lost on the third generation in Hollywood. It’s not everyday you can say the son of the guy who played Psycho made a film just as impactful as his father’s. It’s no Psycho but it is Uncaged. (Yes, I went there).

In the future, My podcast show, The Screen Queen will be bringing an in-depth focus to the other layers of Longlegs. For those interested, catch the updates on my insta @thequeenofthescreen