Two years after it left theaters, “Longlegs” is having a second life on streaming charts around the world. Collider reported this week that Osgood Perkins’s occult horror film is currently trending on the Apple TV Store in Bolivia and Ecuador, while remaining available to stream on Hulu in the United States — evidence, more than two years on, that the film’s original word-of-mouth hasn’t fully run its course.
That staying power has shown up domestically, too. Per ScreenRant, “Longlegs” climbed to a top-three spot on Hulu’s most-watched list not long after it finally arrived on U.S. streaming, despite having already been available on Prime Video in Canada and other markets for months prior. For a film that first hit theaters back in July 2024, landing in the top tier of a major platform’s charts in 2026 is an unusual second wind.
What the Movie Is Actually About
Maika Monroe stars as Lee Harker, an FBI agent with an unusual set of instincts who’s assigned to track down a serial killer known only by the nickname Longlegs. Cage plays the killer, an unsettling, occult-obsessed figure whose crimes are tied to a string of unsolved murders connected to birthdays. Hulu’s own listing describes the plot simply: in pursuit of a serial killer, Harker uncovers a series of occult clues she has to decode to stop his killing spree before it continues.
Cage’s performance has been the film’s defining talking point since it first premiered. In a promotional clip released around the film’s original run, Monroe said seeing Cage in character for the first time on set was a genuinely visceral experience she’d never forget — reportedly reflected in a heart-rate monitor she wore that day, which recorded a jump from 76 to 170 beats per minute the moment she saw him.
A Box Office Underdog That Kept Growing
“Longlegs” was never expected to become this durable a hit. Made for a reported budget under $10 million, the film leaned heavily on a viral marketing campaign from distributor Neon, including a dedicated phone number that let callers hear a pre-recorded, in-character message from Cage as the killer. That approach paid off: the film opened to record numbers for indie distributor Neon and went on to gross roughly $126 million worldwide, according to ScreenRant’s reporting on its box office run.
Critics were largely won over as well. Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus, cited by Forbes at the time of the film’s original digital release, described it as a satanic horror film saturated in disquieting mood, anchored by a nightmarishly gonzo performance from Cage that effectively instills panic. Audience scores landed somewhat cooler, settling around 60% on Rotten Tomatoes — a gap between critical and audience reception that’s fairly common for horror films built more on atmosphere and dread than jump scares.
Where to Watch It Now
As of this month, “Longlegs” remains available to stream on Hulu in the U.S., alongside rental and purchase options through Apple TV, Amazon Video and Fandango At Home, according to streaming tracker JustWatch. The film had also spent time on Disney+ earlier this year, reflecting Hulu’s integration into Disney’s broader streaming ecosystem.
Director Osgood Perkins, the son of “Psycho” star Anthony Perkins, wrote and directed the film, drawing on a distinctive, occult-tinged visual style that’s become something of a signature for him. His brother, the musician Elvis Perkins, performing under the name Zilgi, composed the film’s score — a detail that adds an extra layer of family history to a movie already built around inherited trauma and generational horror.
Whatever’s driving its current resurgence — algorithm-fed rediscovery, horror fans catching up before awards season chatter, or simply a slow theatrical-to-streaming afterlife finally paying off — “Longlegs” is proving, two years later, that it never really left the conversation.
