The promotional ad campaign pursued by production company, Neon, to advertise their new horror movie 'Longlegs' must go down as one of the best there has been for years.
'Longlegs' is an upcoming horror/mystery written and directed by Oz Perkins (son of Anthony), starring Maika Monroe as an FBI agent assigned to an unsolved serial killer case, alongside Nicolas Cage as the mass murderer known as 'Longlegs'.
Promotion for this film, although we may not have known it at the time, began all the way back in January this year. So if you're hoping to catch up on what we know so far with intentions of watching the highly-anticipated horror following it's release on July 12th, here's a timeline of everything Neon have released up until now.
The first piece of promotional material for the movie came through the form of a 36-second clip consisting of a rather unsettling image of a family posing for a photo. Throughout the 36 seconds, the camera pans in on the little girl stood inbetween her parents, staring down the lens.
The audio provides us with the recording of a 9-1-1 emergency call in which the Father we assume is pictured in the photo disturbingly utters the phrases:
"That's my daughter"
"I've got to be quiet"
"That's not my daughter"
The second piece of promotion that was released came through the form of a 37-second clip of a pair of FBI agents discovering a body-sized box hidden under some wooden panelling in the floor. Just as the box is about to be opened, the clip cuts to a close up of what we can assume is a person with their face covered by a black veil.
Throughout the clip, we hear two lines muttered:
"Are you still saying your prayers?"
"Your prayers will protect you from the devil."
In this 84-second clip, we receive our first strong insight into the movie and what it entails. Although very little is revealed about the film's plot and the characters it revolves around, we do see a large and lengthy reel of clips from the film that set the tone for what the movie intends to be associated with.
And at the very end of the clip we see cinematic titular reveal of 'Longlegs'.
In this short and unsettling video, we once again see a range of clips and images from the film that refuse to provide us with any insight as to what the film is about, instead it tends to focus on the idea of making the audience uncomfortable and intrigued at the same time.
Throughout the clip, the following passage is displayed to the audience:
SO CLOSE THE CRIMSON AND CLOVER
ALL GONE NOW TO THE EDGE
WHERE THE BLACK BEGINS
THE LONG FORKED TONGUE HISSES
Once again, another short and unsettling clip does nothing other than serve us with an extreme level of discomfort and another confusing and difficult to infer passage:
LISTEN LOUD THE SERPENTS
SEE THE DARKNESS SLITHERING
TELL ME WHAT GOOD IS THAT BODY
IF NOT FOR HIDING RED SHINY PARTS
The official trailer for 'Longlegs' has been one that has been crawling under the skin of it's viewers for quite some weeks now. What may be perceived as just a lengthened compilation of all of the clips we've received so far is also the first strong insight as to what the film is actually about.
One thing we do see and hear a lot of in this trailer is the performance of Maika Monroe as FBI Agent Lee Harker. Whereas we are still yet to see Nicholas Cage Longlegs appear on camera. This would remain the case for the remainder of the advertisement campaign.
The End Trailer for 'Longlegs', despite being half as long in duration is arguably just as or if not more unsettling as it's predecessor. In what seems to be more of a legitimate push to bring audiences to seats, this trailer provides us with the quote "The scariest film of the decade". And if the film lives up to the standards set by it's ad campaign, this will with no doubt be the case.
The final and arguably most intriguing and unsettling part of the 'Longlegs' advertisement campaign comes through the form of an audio recording of Maika Monroe's actual real-life heartbeat the first time she saw Nicolas Cage in costume Longlegs.
The description in the video states that Monroe's resting heart rate is 76 bpm, but upon seeing Cage as Longlegs for the first time, it hits a high of 170bpm.
To add to the intrigue and unsettlement, when the camera cuts to Cage as the unidentified Longlegs, a black square occupies his face, confirming the fact that Cage's lack of appearances throughout the whole advertisement campaign was in fact intentional.
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