, the serial killer horror hit from 2024 by , has officially become a hit on streaming. The film recently premiered on Hulu, and has climbed up the charts of the streamer in only a matter of days. At the time of writing, it sits on the top spot of the platform's most popular films, above major blockbusters like Avatar and Titanic, and animation icons like The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Finding Nemo.
Written and directed by Perkins, Longlegs was one of last year's best original horror films. The story follows an FBI agent who gets assigned to investigate a series of mysterious murder-suicide cases in Oregon that may have a connection to her past.
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Per the film's official synopsis:
FBI Agent Lee Harker is a gifted new recruit assigned to the unsolved case of an elusive serial killer. As the case takes complex turns, unearthing evidence of the occult, Harker discovers a personal connection to the merciless killer and must race against time to stop him before he claims the lives of another innocent family.
Longlegs stars Nicolas Cage, Maika Monroe, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt and Kiernan Shipka, among others. The film had a production budget of less than $10 million, and grossed more than $126 million at the box office — making it the highest-grossing independent film of 2024 and Perkins' most successful film to date.
The movie's unique marketing process was the result of an agreement between Perkins and the independent distribution studio Neon. The marketing campaign focused on many techniques — from mysterious emails to cryptic billboards with phone numbers that led to pre-recorded messages; but they never revealed more than necessary. This elevated the hype above normal levels and Longlegs made $10 million on its first day of release, convincing Perkins that Neon was the right studio to handle marketing for his next film, The Monkey.
Perkins' latest movie, The Monkey, was released on Friday, February 21, 2025, and it's already projected to be another winner for the director and Neon. Perkins has proven to be a reliable filmmaker who's capable of delivering original horror films that stand out among the rest, and while not many filmmakers get the chance to have major releases two years in a row, he has proven that his films can also make money.
Perkins spoke to Bloody Disgusting to promote The Monkey, an absurd horror comedy based on a short story by Stephen King that will surely be in every horror conversation this weekend. Although they're wildly different movies, the director revealed they're more similar than we thought:
"They're in conversation with each other because they're both made by me, and I'm sort of figuring out the same sh*t in all the movies. If all this stuff is just an expression of me, then it's just an expression of me, and the various things that circle my psyche, and that trouble me, or that I'm trying to loosen up, or untie the knot off. I think it's like you see painters who paint the same, essentially, picture a thousand times."
"I might be a little bit in that school, I think, where I'm working out the same garbage all the time, just in slightly different forms. But I thought Longlegs was funny as sh*t. I laugh more than anybody. I'm a notorious laugher at the monitor, and I'm overheard laughing a lot. Maika Monroe had a hard time with me on Longlegs because I laughed through most of her scenes, to be honest with you. I just found that character to be so adorable and hilarious."
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