Longlegs director refuses to watch modern horror movies for one specific reason

Despite directing one of the best horror movies of 2024, Osgood Perkins revealed he refuses to watch any modern horror movies for one reason.

Thanks to movies like Imaginary and Night Swim, 2024 started on a pretty slow note when it comes to horror movies.

But Nicolas Cage’s Longlegs is set to turn the scare meter up a thousand notches, as even lead actress Maika Monroe’s heart rate hit a dangerous level when watching the film.

However, despite making what could be the scariest film of the year, director Osgood Perkins refuses to watch any modern horror movies.

He told The Hollywood Reporter, “I wouldn’t say I’m someone who likes or dislikes horror movies. I don’t see new ones. I have no interest. I’ll never see MaXXXine, I’ll never see Pearl. I saw X for reasons; it wasn’t on purpose. I don’t see contemporary things.”

Perkins continued, “They don’t interest me at all, and that’s not to say that they aren’t great. I’m sure they are great and make a lot of people happy, which is all that really matters. But I like the horror genre because it’s the genre that permits the most invention and it encourages the most poetry. It’s all guessing and grasping at what is essentially unknowable.”

The director’s distaste for mainstream scary movies may come as a surprise as his father, Anthony Perkins, played Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

Perkins’s role in the movie has become a staple in the horror genre, and it’s been constantly referenced since the movie premiered in 1960.

Because Osgood Perkins came from what is considered Hollywood royalty, many believed he would follow in his father’s footsteps.

And, after co-starring in Legally Blonde, Perkins has worked on more terrifying projects such as The Blackcoat’s Daughter and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House.

But Perks has cited his father as the reason why he won’t dabble in viewing contemporary scary movies.

“When I was coming into my 12- to-15-year-old self and getting into movies, my father was making very bad horror movies. He was being paid well to go to Europe and do shit. And it was obvious that this stuff was sh*t,” Perkins explained.

“So the disparity between the zenith of things, which was Psycho, and the basin of things, which was, for instance, a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde movie [Edge of Sanity] that he made when I was a kid, has always planted in me an uneasiness around the horror genre.”

Perkins’ distrust of modern horror hasn’t translated to his own work as he is set to direct the supernatural flick The Monkey, which will premiere in 2025.

For more, check out our Longlegs review and the five terrifying horror movies scarier than Longlegs. You can also find out how to watch Longlegs, as well as details on whether Longlegs is based on a true story.