“Longlegs” will test the box office value of a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score

The film centers on an FBI agent who hunts a serial killer and stumbles upon a series of occult clues that she must solve in order to put an end to this brutal series of murders. The film stars Maika Monroe (“It Follows”) and Nicolas Cage (“Pig”). Perkins, who has previously appeared in “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” and “Gretel & Hansel,” among others, also wrote the screenplay.

NEON has marketed Longlegs brilliantly, launching an insane campaign to sell Perkins’ plans. At the same time, the studio has opted for a somewhat “less is more” approach. Most notably, it has refrained from fully revealing Cage’s wild looks in the film, instead giving only brief hints in trailers. It has also not given too much away about the story, instead letting the mystery and extremely creepy atmosphere speak for themselves. NEON is clearly relying on intrigue to do the heavy lifting here, and hopefully word of mouth as well. So far, the latest installment is off to a very good start.

At the time of this writing, Longlegs boasts a flawless 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That will surely change, but for now, it’s no less impressive. /Film’s Bill Bria called it the scariest horror film of the year in his perfect review. The hope is that audiences will get on board, too. The fear is that it could end up being a situation where critics love it and general moviegoing audiences aren’t so keen. Think Uncut Gems (91% critic score/52% audience score) or It Comes at Night (88% critic score/44% audience score). Even if that happens, Longlegs could still become one of those “you have to see it to believe it” situations.

“Longlegs” will be released in theaters on July 12, 2024.