Longlegs director has debunked a wild theory about the film’s sinister name

Oz Perkins explained the actual reason he went with the mysterious title

4 months ago | UPDATED 2 weeks ago

Longlegs is a weird name, but Longlegs is a weird film. If you have seen the record breaking horror film from Oz Perkins, which stars Maika Monroe as FBI Agent Lee Harker on the case of the Longlegs killer played by Nicholas Cage you will know the film doesn’t actually do much explaining on why Longlegs goes by Longlegs, or what the moniker actually means. Fans have gone wild with theories about what it could mean, with some extremely dark stuff coming out. Longlegs director Oz Perkins has now confirmed why the film actually has the name Longlegs though, and has debunked the theory in the process.

Spoiler warning and trigger warning ahead of grim content.

The viral theory about Longlegs name

I just read the most interesting and realistic theory about LONGLEGS and I’m sick now

— lexy 🦇 (@coffinpsyche) July 14, 2024

A viral theory on Longlegs has blown up like crazy, with a horror fan detailing some stuff about the meaning behind the film and the name being to do with child sexual assault. Obviously, Longlegs preys on children and families and we see a sinister vibe right in the opening scenes.

The theory is explained as follows. “The title and name “Longlegs.” In the first scene, he makes it clear that “longlegs” means his height or being grown up, and he stoops down to a childlike level to compensate. The film is about Lee removing her “longlegs” and reliving childhood trauma and remembering what happened to her.

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“If stripped down, what happened to Lee as a child is that her mother invited a predator into her house and acted on his behalf during her most formative years. Lee repressed that. Her mother acted as if she was her protector, but she let the abuser in to torment Lee. There were 100 per cent pedophilic undertones to Longlegs and I don’t think that was unintentional. It’s also not unintentional that all the families have daughters.”

The theory also says that the constant visuals of men in power and men being the instigator of violence suggests abuse of power at all fronts.

However, whilst there might be some truth to this subtext and the theory behind the undertones of what Longlegs was doing, the actual name part of it all has been debunked by Oz Perkins. Speaking to Collider, Oz Perkins explained why Longlegs has that name and his own theory behind it.

“I don’t know if it has a meaning or not. It doesn’t have meaning. I like words, and it’s a good word. It sounds good. It sounds sort of scary but also sort of fun. It sounds pure. It sounds like the ’70s to me. It sounds like something that maybe Robert Plant would have sung in a Zeppelin song. It has an old pin-up quality to it. It invokes a certain time, I suppose, and there’s an awkwardness to it that he has, that the character has sort of an uneasy clumsiness to him. I don’t know; it just feels good.”