There's a slew of upcoming horror movies coming down the pipeline, and if you've been watching any of them, then you've probably at least heard of Longlegs. It's been everywhere. A common thread of thought from fans has been comparing the new Neon movie to Silence of the Lambs .
Now, the film's editors, Greg Ng and Graham Fortin, collaborators of director Osgood Perkins, told me the real inspiration behind the Nicolas Cage movie. In fact, the film's inspiration comes from movies you might not expect. Longlegs hit the 2024 movie schedule on July 12, and has been the talk of the town in the time since.
The flick follows an FBI Special Agent who is tasked with hunting down a serial killer who has been involved in the murder-suicides of myriad families. The horror film starring Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe has received critical acclaim and out-performed at the box office in its first days – I'd argue thanks to the incredible marketing campaign around it. And as the flick continues to have long legs (pun so very much intended) on the big screen, I had the chance to sit down with the editors and ask what their inspirations were.
Ng agreed that while Silence of the Lambs is the film everyone has been comparing it to, there are a lot of older films that Osgood Perkins actually recommended and had them watch to get the vibe of the film down so that the scares "stand on their own:" I mean there's obviously the comparisons to Silence of the Lambs, Seven...
those were sort of major ref.