The Films of Osgood Perkins

Szene aus dem Film "Die Tochter des Teufels" (2015) von Osgood Perkins

Kiernan Shipka in The Blackcoat’s Daughter (© Koch Media GmbH)

Who still remembers the extraordinary marketing campaign for Longlegs? The cryptic trailers that revealed almost no information, mysterious posters that only displayed a date, and a mysterious phone number people could call—all of this generated immense curiosity. The campaign was one of the marketing highlights of 2024. This clever approach sent anticipation through the roof even before the film hit theaters. And the campaign paid off: with a worldwide box office revenue of $127 million on a budget of less than $10 million, Longlegs became the highest-grossing independent film of the year. For Osgood “Oz” Perkins, the film marked the pinnacle of his career so far. It not only earned him widespread recognition but also once again showcased his unique artistic signature.

Before Longlegs, Perkins created three fascinating films, each with its own poetic and unsettling language: The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), and Gretel & Hansel (2020). These works established him as one of the central voices of modern “art horror”—a movement that uses the genre not just for entertainment but as a vehicle for profound, emotional, and artistically ambitious storytelling. Like his directing peers Ari Aster (Hereditary) and Robert Eggers (The Witch), Perkins is a filmmaker who sees horror as an art form and enriches it with a distinctive vision.

Predestined for the Horror Genre?

Was Osgood Perkins (*1974) destined to leave his mark on the horror genre? As the son of Anthony Perkins—who made film history with his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960)—and actress and photographer Berry Berenson, this assumption seems quite plausible. Even more so when considering that Perkins was named after his grandfather, Osgood (1892–1937), who was also an actor and appeared in Scarface (1932), among other films.

However, Perkins’ career path was far from straightforward. It wasn’t until the age of 41 that he truly began to shape cinema from a new perspective—as a director. He sees it as his destiny, as he explained to a journalist: “It was my father’s business. As some children go into banking because their fathers are bankers, and some people become dentists because their fathers are dentists, one of my ways of connecting with my old man — who I couldn’t always connect with — was through the fact that he was an icon in this genre.” We’ll return to this personal, autobiographical dimension later on.

Porträt von Osgood Perkins

Portrait of Osgood Perkins (Public Domain)

His entry into the film world initially began in front of the camera. As a teenager, Perkins briefly appeared as the young version of Norman Bates—his father’s iconic character—in Psycho II (1983). However, it wasn’t until a decade later that he took on more acting roles, including playing a police officer in the horror film Wolf (1994) by Mike Nichols. The renowned filmmaker, a close friend of Anthony Perkins, took care of the 18-year-old Osgood after his father passed away in 1992.

Osgood recalls: “He was at my dad’s side when he was sick. And when I was pulling my head out of the sand at age 38 or 39, and wanting to commit myself to writing and making movies, it was Mike who had the most salient advice and the most revelatory thinking.”

Indeed, after his father’s death, Perkins was somewhat directionless. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that he reappeared in films such as Legally Blonde (2001), Secretary (2002), and Dead & Breakfast (2004). In the 2010s, he turned his focus to screenwriting. He gained his first experience as a co-writer for horror films and thrillers such as Removal (2010), Cold Comes the Night (2013), and The Girl in the Photographs (2015). For all three films, he collaborated with director and writer Nick Simon. It wasn’t until 2015 that he finally took the step behind the camera on his own, making his directorial debut with The Blackcoat’s Daughter.

However, he occasionally still appears as an actor, for instance, in Nope (2022) by fellow horror filmmaker Jordan Peele, or in his own upcoming film, The Monkey (2025).

Gruesome Images Wrapped in Poetry

Osgood Perkins is, alongside Ari Aster and Robert Eggers, one of the most significant representatives of the art horror genre—a style where horror is not an end in itself but a tool, a framework for telling deeply personal and often introspective stories. For Perkins, horror is merely a means to convey the essence of his films.

A prime example of this is The Blackcoat’s Daughter. Disguised as a “classic” horror story about demons and possession, the film ultimately explores the profound grief of a girl struggling with the loss of her parents.

“Can I situate the viewer in a possession story while I’m really creating a sad, mournful portrait of this girl?” Perkins asks rhetorically. “I wanted to use demonic possession as that kind of abstraction I was talking about before, where what I’m really talking about is loss and emptiness, but I can suggest that through the possession idea. Because people understand what that means; they understand that to be demonically possessed is essentially to lose yourself. It’s a loss of your life, and an alienation and a distancing from all that’s familiar.”

Ultimately—and this applies to all of Perkins’ films—the horror genre is used as a lens to depict life as it truly is, to capture what it feels like when it is filled with sadness and fear.

Horror Films as Poetry

This approach shapes all of his works: Perkins’ horror films are like rhythmic poems, where repetitions, refrains, and subtle variations dictate the narrative flow. As a result, they become meditations on negative emotions such as grief, loss, and loneliness.

“A movie can be a poem,” he explains. “I tend to utilize repetitions and refrains, while reprising visuals or sounds or feelings or even scenes. It feels more like a song to me than it does a story.”

The Blackcoat’s Daughter visually conveys the feeling of a long, creeping nightmare in poetic form, while I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House—a film about a caretaker who discovers that her patient’s house is haunted—incorporates poetic elements through carefully crafted monologues and an almost lyrical visual style.

In Gretel & Hansel, the poetry emerges in multiple ways: through the geometric shapes of the sets and the meticulously composed framing, which creates a dreamlike, hypnotic atmosphere, but also quite simply from the fact that it is, at its core, a fairy tale.

Horror Films as Fairy Tales

At its core, Longlegs (2024)—which on the surface is a “simple” story about an FBI agent delving into the disturbing case of a serial killer whose crimes seem to be driven by supernatural forces—also follows an archetypal fairy tale structure: A mother, willing to sacrifice everything to protect her daughter, makes a pact with the devil. But, as is often the case in fairy tales, this deal comes with a fatal price, ultimately leading to the mother’s downfall.

This narrative reflects the classic structure of fairy tales, where choices, sacrifices, and dark consequences are central themes. The surreal imagery—such as the black smoke seeping from the heads of hand-crafted dolls—and the profound moral conflicts create an atmosphere that shifts between fairy tale and nightmare.

Like the stories of the Brothers Grimm, Longlegs demonstrates that the fairy tale realm can also be cruel and unforgiving. The moral of the story? Beware of Mama’s lies!

Szene aus dem Film "Longlegs" (2024) von Osgood Perkins

The doll with the shattered head from Longlegs (© Neon)

In Perkins’ films, horror unfolds slowly, almost hesitantly, creating an unsettling, often dreamlike atmosphere. The horror is never obvious or excessive but rather subtle, almost subconscious (yes, even in Longlegs). His works do not rely on triggering immediate fear responses from the audience but instead evoke a deeper, existential unease—which is precisely why they leave such a lasting impact.

Notably, every one of his films incorporates the supernatural, often as a metaphor for the inner conflicts and fears of his characters: demons in The Blackcoat’s Daughter, ghosts in I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, witchcraft in Gretel & Hansel, and Satan himself in Longlegs.

Perkins even included a direct connection between his first and latest films: both feature a scene in which a character exclaims, “Hail Satan!” In this sense, with Longlegs, Perkins brings his cinematic horror quartet—begun with The Blackcoat’s Daughter—full circle.

Autobiographical Inspirations

In his films, Perkins explores his own past and family experiences. His stories are often rooted in autobiographical events, which he interprets through the lens of the horror genre and transforms into metaphorical imagery. One of the most intimate examples is I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016). The film is dedicated to his father, as indicated by the dedication: “For AP, who gave me an old house.” “AP” refers to Anthony Perkins, whose shadow looms over his son’s entire career, as we saw at the beginning of this portrait.

In an interview, Osgood Perkins described the film as a way to continue exploring his complex relationship with his father after his death: “That film was deliberately pointed at my relationship with him. I was trying to reconcile my inability to know my father. That is what that movie is about, ultimately.”

Das Haus in Osgood Perkins' I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

Inside the House from I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (© Netflix)

Additionally, the film includes a clip from Friendly Persuasion (1956), the movie for which Anthony Perkins was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The role of Polly was played by Paula Prentiss (*1938), a close friend and contemporary of his father, who even came out of retirement specifically to take part in the film.

The Blackcoat’s Daughter is also deeply shaped by personal pain. The film, which portrays the grief and despair of a girl who has lost both parents, is rooted in tragic events from Perkins’ own life. His father, Anthony Perkins, died in 1992 from AIDS after struggling with his sexuality for decades, keeping it largely hidden from the public. His mother, Berry Berenson, was killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. At just 27 years old, Perkins had become an orphan.

These losses, which struck him at different stages of his life, heavily influence the melancholic tone and the existential sorrow in The Blackcoat’s Daughter. The film channels this grief through its supernatural element—demonic possession—turning it into a metaphor for loss and isolation.

Female-Driven Horror

Perkins sets himself apart from many of his peers through his unique focus on female perspectives in the horror genre—going far beyond the classic ‘Final Girl’ trope. He places female protagonists at the heart of his stories, adopts their perspectives, and delves deeply into their psychology. That makes the difference. While women often take on leading roles in horror films, their characters tend to remain superficial, frequently serving merely as vessels for experiencing and embodying fear. They are often two-dimensional, but with Perkins, they gain depth and become multifaceted, complex characters. Directors like Ari Aster (Midsommar) and Robert Eggers (The Witch) have taken similar approaches, but Perkins goes even further. This choice is no coincidence; it is a deliberate stylistic and narrative element that runs like a red thread through his entire body of work.

Szene aus dem Film "Gretel & Hänsel" von Osgood Perkins

Sophia Lillis as Gretel in Gretel & Hansel (© Orion Pictures Corporation)

His films tell the stories of women who must assert themselves in extreme situations. They are at the center of the narratives, often as vulnerable yet multifaceted characters confronted with dark forces—whether it’s Emma Roberts and Kiernan Shipka in The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015), Ruth Wilson in I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), Sophia Lillis in Gretel & Hansel (2020), or Maika Monroe in Longlegs (2024). This approach is particularly evident in Gretel & Hansel, as reflected in the title itself: the traditional fairy tale (Hansel & Gretel) is deliberately reversed to highlight the female perspective. Gretel is not only the central figure but also the driving force of the story, radically altering the classic tale’s traditional roles. In Longlegs, Maika Monroe’s character faces the challenge of breaking a satanic curse. Given Perkins’ previous films, the question of whether she, as a woman, is up to the task feels almost rhetorical. His female characters are complex, layered, and often far stronger than those around them are willing to acknowledge.

In a conversation, Perkins explains his inclination toward female protagonists by pointing to the emotional subtlety he believes the horror genre requires: The horror genre relies so much on the complexity of the emotional and the subtlety of the emotional and the subtlety of perception. To me, those are all very sort of feminine qualities, you know? The hammer of maleness feels far too aggressive — like it breaks the shell. And I think that what we’re trying to do with these pictures is we’re trying to build an atmosphere of dread and suspense and curiosity and longing … and that feels feminine to me. And so, for whatever reason, it tends to pass through protagonists.”

New Paths: Longlegs and Beyond

With Longlegs, Osgood Perkins has taken a bold step in a new direction without sacrificing the essence of his previous works. While the film clearly bears the poetic and introspective signature of the director, it also features elements that set it apart from his earlier films. Perkins himself stated in an interview with DEADLINE – Das Filmmagazin (Nr. 106, p. 33): “My intention with Longlegs was primarily to offer the audience something fresh, new, and unexpected.”

One of the most striking differences is the comedic undertone, which played little to no role in his previous films. Despite its dark premise, Longlegs carries a sardonic sense of humor. The film doesn’t always take the satanic curse looming over the story entirely seriously. The characters often seem like puppets in a mocking, devilish game where no one is truly in control.

Pop culture references, such as the use of songs by T. Rex, reinforce this ironic layer, creating an atmosphere that, in the end, leaves the audience feeling strangely satisfied—perhaps even grateful—despite all the horror. Yet, the visual and emotional depth that defines Perkins’ earlier works is still ever-present in Longlegs. The film is not just an expansion of his existing body of work but also a clear sign that Perkins is ready to explore new narrative directions.

His upcoming film, The Monkey (2025), in which Perkins returns to a classic horror story, further confirms this direction. The film is based on a short story by Stephen King, and once again, Perkins makes it clear that he will incorporate humor. He describes the film as a kind of comedy with exaggerated, almost cartoonish violence, drawing inspiration from movies like Gremlins (1984) and Death Becomes Her (1992). There’s plenty to look forward to.

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