Shocking Summer Blockbuster: How ‘Longlegs’ Became Neon’s Surprise Indie Horror Sensation!

Unraveling the best plot twists comes from following a lengthy trail of hints, ultimately leading to a shocking revelation that was hidden in plain sight all along.

The promotional campaign for the surprise horror hit “Longlegs,” distributed by the independent company Neon, took this concept to another level.

The breadcrumb trail of cryptic trailers, eerie phone messages, coded newspaper advertisements, fabricated blog posts, and other publicity stunts, led to “Longlegs.” The audience eagerly followed the trail, providing New York-based Neon with its largest opening to date, as well as the best debut for an independent horror film in ten years.

The R-rated film, which the studio says cost less than $10 million to produce and promote, premiered last weekend at second place, earning $22.6 million in domestic box office sales.

According to Comscore’s senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian, the film’s success “seemed to appear out of thin air,” particularly when compared to the safer, more glamorous marketing campaigns for major studio films like “Despicable Me 4” and “Twisters.”

“If you would have asked people a month ago if they had ‘Longlegs’ on their list of potential surprise hits, they would have asked, ‘What’s “Longlegs?”‘” Dergarabedian pointed out.

“Attracting audiences like this is no easy task,” he continued. “To lure that crowd, you need to do something extraordinary…and they certainly did.”

Directed by Osgood Perkins (the son of the late horror legend Anthony Perkins), “Longlegs” features seasoned horror actress Maika Monroe as an FBI agent investigating a string of horrific murders. Nicolas Cage plays the titular monster, but the promotional materials cleverly disguise the actor’s face.

His appearance is barely noticeable in the main trailer, which discloses little about the plot. (The studio abandoned its original plan for a more standard trailer after audiences showed a positive response to an early, mysterious teaser.)

“The mystery increases interest,” Monica Koyama, a professor of entertainment marketing and communication management at USC, said.

“He’s definitely terrifying in the film. But…what people imagine can often be scarier than what they see on the screen.”

In an additional attempt to market the film’s fright factor, Neon released a recording of Monroe’s heart rate jumping from 76 to 170 beats per minute while filming her first scene with Cage as Longlegs. The studio obtained the audio from a microphone taped to Monroe’s chest after a conversation with Perkins, who intentionally kept the actors apart before filming that scene and noted Monroe’s racing heart during their interaction.

“It’s a simple strategy,” Koyama said. “They provided data… ‘We’re saying this is scary. Here’s the actual raw data from the actress.'”

This is all part of Neon’s scheme to make the audience feel like they’re in the shoes of the main character.

“The success of ‘Longlegs’ is a testament to the wildly innovative film Osgood Perkins and his talented team created,” Neon’s president of distribution, Elissa Federoff, said in a statement to The Times.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the results, and we’re eager to continue our partnership with Osgood and his production team, who have allowed us the freedom to construct a campaign we truly believe in.”

Koyama speculated that Neon deliberately blurred the lines between the horror and crime genres to attract a broader audience. She also attributed the success of “Longlegs” to a number of traditional advertising tactics such as using glowing reviews that hailed it as one of the scariest films in years.

“This will spark a renewed sense of creativity within the marketing field,” Koyama said. “I hope this will encourage studios to take more risks.”