Summary
With an impressive critical and audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the horror sleeper hitLonglegshas broken a pair of pivotal records for its director. Writer-director Osgood Perkins has a mixed track record with both critics and general audiences. The horror helmer began his feature film career with 2015’sThe Blackcoat’s Daughter, a supernatural thriller starring Emma Roberts and Kiernan Shipka. He followed this with 2016’s languorously paced haunted house movieI Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the Houseand 2020’sGretel and Hansel, both of which received mixed reviews.
Perkins’ latest movie,2024’s serial killer thrillerLonglegs,is another story entirely. StarringIt Followslead Maika Monroe and screen legend Nicolas Cage,Longlegsis a smash hit that has impressed both critics and cinema attendees since its release. With a budget of less than $10 million,Longlegshas already earned over $30 million in its first week at the box office. This would be impressive at any time of year, but it is particularly striking when the movie faced competition from summer blockbusters. The stellar central performances andLonglegs’ brutal twist endingcombined to make it a must-see.
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Longlegs' Critics Score On Rotten Tomatoes Is A New Record For Director Osgood Perkins
Longlegs Fared Better With Critics Than His 2015 Debut
Fortunately for the director, both audiences and critics agree thatLonglegsis Osgood Perkins’ best movie by far.Longlegsearned a superb 86% from critics onRotten Tomatoesand 65% from audiences, which comfortably outdoes his previous best. 2015’sThe Blackcoat’s Daughterwas less divisive than Perkins’ later efforts, earning a respectable 75% from critics and a less impressive 51% from viewers. Since then, things got worse for the writer-director, whose atmospheric horror movies are an acquired taste even among seasoned reviewers. Their limited mainstream appeal was clear from audience scores.
I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the Houseearned only 59% from viewers
Despite reuniting the director withThe Blackcoat’s Daughtersupporting star Lucy Boynton,I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the Houseearned only 59% from viewers. 2020’s grim fairy tale retellingGretel & Hanselfared slightly better with a critical rating of 62%, but this was still far from Perkins’ debut and nowhere near as good asLonglegs’ 86% Rotten Tomatoes rating.Longlegswas a step in a more accessible direction for Perkins, and the movie’s reception proves that the director might be better suited to mainstream fare than previously expected.
Gretel and Hanselgot a meager 23% from viewers.
Longlegs Is Osgood Perkins' First Movie With A Fresh Audience Score On Rotten Tomatoes
Longlegs’ 64% Rating Easily Beats The Divisive Director’s Earlier Efforts
AlthoughLonglegssucceeded with critics, the real test of its appeal comes in the movie’s audience reception. Ordinarily, a 65% audience rating wouldn’t be incredibly impressive on Rotten Tomatoes, although the site’s audience scores do tend to reject more experimental, avant-garde movies as a general rule. Perkins specifically seems to be a major victim of this, withI Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the Houseearning only 24%. Meanwhile,Gretel and Hanselgot a meager 23% from viewers. The deliberately offbeat, unconventional aesthetic of these movies failed to find favor with most of the site’s users.
In contrast,Longlegssucceeded despite its strange story, unexplained mysteries, and occasional surreal flourishes. WhileLonglegsis hardly a straightforward police procedural, its clearer plotting and comparatively fast pace might account for its better audience reception. This all makesPerkins’ upcoming Stephen King adaptationThe Monkeyeven more exciting, asLonglegsproves that the director can make conventional, accessible horror movies as well as trippier outings. King’s work can be nightmarishly bizarre, but his mainstream popularity initially made Perkins seem an unlikely choice for the movie.
Why Longlegs' Rotten Tomatoes Scores Are Better Than Osgood Perkins' Other Movies
The Serial Killer Thriller Is More Accessible
WhileLonglegsis undeniably still strange and offbeat compared to most mainstream horror movies, it is also more conventional than Perkins’ earlier efforts. Ironically, some critics likeRogerEbert.com’s Brain Tallerico singled this out as the movie’s main fault, saying that leaning further into its implied Lynchian weirdness would have made for a more memorable cinematic trip into Hell. However, regardless of whether reviewers thinkLonglegswas right to clear up so many of its mysteries, the movie clearly resonated with viewers, judging by its box office performance and audience reviews.
Everything fromNicholas Cage’sLonglegsroleto the movie’s viral marketing campaign set the psychological horror up to be Perkins’s break into the mainstream, and a comparison to his earlier Rotten Tomatoes scores proves how well this worked. With a plot that few could call pointless or confusing, a pace that didn’t drag out, and only a handful of unexplained enigmas,Longlegsdropped a lot of the elements that put viewers off Perkins’s earlier movies. In the process,Longlegsproved that its director could make an unlikely crowdpleaser, despite what his earlier efforts implied.
