Longlegs director had one request for “nuts” viral marketing campaign

The marketing campaign for the upcoming horror Longlegs has been nothing short of genius, with director Oz Perkins saying he had one request for the “nuts” advertising. 

It all started in January with the creepy ‘that’s not my daughter’ teaser, which gave nothing away about the Neon horror movie – not even the title. 

After it was revealed to be for Longlegs, what followed was a series of elusive and terrifying clips, a collection of haunting posters, and a billboard ad featuring a phone number you can call for a horrifying message.

It’s been one of the best marketing campaigns in recent memory, cementing itself Longlegs one of the most exciting horror movies of 2024. 

In a new interview with IndieWire, the Longlegs director has opened up about the campaign, saying the credit is owed to its distributor, Neon. He explained that he more or less handed the reins over to the studio, but he had one condition: maintaining the aspect ratio.

“I would be a jackass to take too much credit for what they’ve done,” Perkins told the outlet. 

“[Neon] really responded strongly to the movie, the raw materials of the movie really excited them, the way it looks, the way it feels, the way it sounds. 

“They asked me early on, ‘Do we have your permission to kind of go nuts?’ And I said, ‘What else are we doing here? Go for it. Do your thing.’”

The filmmaker added, “The only thing I ever asked them to do was, early on, when they started showing me trailers, I said, ‘Please just maintain the aspect ratio… Please don’t crop the square things and try to force them into something else.’”

For the uninitiated, Longlegs’ changing aspect ratios became a talking point among horror movie fans when the full trailer dropped. 

Some scenes are in a regular widescreen format, reflecting the present day (in this case, the ‘90s), while others have been shot in a smaller, square format to reflect the past.

Perkins went on to say, “The initial response from them [Neon] was sort of like, ‘Oh yeah, totally Perkins, uh huh, sure.’ But they maintained it, and it’s become such a part of the look of the ad campaign, which is honoring that observational square we use.

“It’s extremely gratifying. I love my partnership with Neon.”

The movie itself centers on a serial killer (Nicolas Cage) case that takes a sinister turn when an FBI investigator (Maika Monroe) unearths evidence of the occult. 

Longlegs arrives in cinemas on July 12. Until then, check out all of the new movies heading to streaming this month. For more horror, read everything we know about Terrifier 3, Smile 2, and MaXXXine