Putting aside the raging debate about whether it is, in fact, the “scariest film of the decade,” one thing we can all agree upon is that Longlegs is, at the very least, off putting. There’s something about Osgood “Oz” Perkins’ latest that gets under your skin, even if it doesn’t necessarily reduce you to a total quivering wreck (as some of the more hyperbolic reactions would have you believe).
Maybe it’s Nicolas Cage’s bloodcurdling transformation into the titular Manson-esque killer that sets you on edge. Or perhaps it’s the grisly murders he enacts, the recurring motif of sinister eyes peering out from the shadows, those hidden devils that are artfully concealed in the frame, or the lingering cinematography that gives you an unshakable feeling that something dreadful could happen at any moment. Whatever causes you to squirm, there’s no denying that Longlegs is filled with all kinds of unsettling imagery.
However, those visuals are only one half of the chilling equation here, with the audio doing a lot of heavy lifting of its own. Indeed, while Eugenio Battaglia’s sound design might not be as attention-grabbing as, say, Cage’s gonzo performance or the striking violence that’s peppered throughout the movie, it still does an excellent job of subtly worming its way into your brain, in a way that feels almost violating. Much like the dolls that Longlegs uses to spread his malign influence across the United States.
To find out more about how he pulled off this psychological assault on your senses, we sat down with Battaglia for an exclusive interview. Among other things, we learned how he covertly smuggled hidden messages into the soundtrack, how he imbued Nic Cage with a sense of rock star “Glam” during his (characteristically memeable) singing scenes, and why he thinks you haven’t truly experienced the movie until you’ve seen it at home.
Bloody Disgusting: I want to start by congratulating you on the film. Not only has it clearly resonated with audiences but, when it comes to your contributions specifically, it’s one of those rare instances where the audio makes just as big an impression as the visuals.
Eugenio Battaglia: Thank you very much!
BD: So, my first question is: How did you come up with the disturbing soundscape of Longlegs? Was Oz Perkins prescriptive about what he wanted, or did he give you free rein to do your own thing?
EB: You know, Oz wasn’t too [explicit] about what he did want from the sound. Instead, he gave me a few restrictions and named the things that he didn’t want. Which is really appreciated direction actually. As a sound designer, you have so many options at your disposal, and it can become quite overwhelming trying to decide which tools to use.
Yet when some of those choices are removed for you, it does help with the creative process. The limitations force you to think outside of the box if you know what I mean.
BD: And what parameters did he give you exactly?
EB: Oz wanted it to feel like something was being transmitted or “projected” onto your brain. Similar to what is happening with the main character [Agent Lee Harker]. But he wanted me to accomplish that without resorting to any obvious, on-the-nose techniques. Then he also mentioned that he wanted the movie to have this sort of Rock n’ Roll vibe. Considering about those two stipulations, I thought: “Maybe the whole thing could play like a ‘70s record!”
And, following that train of thought, I then bought this 360-mic and started messing around with the windscreen: using towels, bowls and stuff like that. It produced this hypnotic crackling sound [like one you might hear on a vinyl] that you can trace throughout the film. And from there I also started experimenting with subliminals.
BD: That segues neatly into my next question. I’ve read there are some secret audio effects here that have been reversed, in a manner reminiscent of backmasking. Presumably, that’s another way you’ve tried to make the soundtrack here evoke a creepy old record, like those ones that are supposed to have hidden satanic messages.
EB: Yeah, that’s true! I’ve watched the movie in reverse myself and those [cues] aren’t super obvious to be honest. But you can definitely make out some things if you listen closely enough.
All I did was grab the mic and whispered these sinister things as if I were Longlegs. I’d call out “Harker,” for instance, and I also did some funny stuff like murmuring: “Give us good reviews!” A lot of that was then reversed and played over the quick flashes of disturbing imagery that you see intermittently throughout the movie. You know, those bits that sound like Sauron’s [Black Speech] from The Lord of the Rings. That’s all me!
Probably the most prominent example of reversed audio that you can hear, however, is a pair of recordings, one of myself and another of a priest, reciting the Lord’s Prayer. They’re used over the montage of Harker pouring through the files. I searched “How to summon a demon” and apparently doing the Lord’s Prayer backwards is the top result!
BD: If they’re so inclined, will people be able to hear that when the film is available to watch from home and they scrub through it in reverse? Or have other effects been added to make the recordings even less recognisable?
EB: I am pretty certain you will be able to make out the Lord’s Prayer at least. The other thing you might notice isn’t even vocal, but it’s still a huge part of the soundtrack.
There’s an effect I call “The Hell Heartbeat” which pulsates throughout the whole movie, as if it is calling out to Lee. That one is just a [backwards] recording of me stomping up and down my stairs at home, layered with a bit of Foley. If you reverse the film, you can definitely tell that’s what you are hearing.
BD: That’s really cool! Another thing that stood out to me is that it’s a very quiet flick. There are long stretches of dead silence where no one is talking, where there’s little in the way of background ambience, and where music is conspicuously absent.
EB: Yes.
BD: Fortunately for me, everyone in my screening was locked in, but that’s still a pretty big risk to take, isn’t it? Having it be so subdued when horror multiplex audiences are known for being rowdy.
EB: Oh, I was super worried about that! I went to see Immaculate and The First Omen recently and, in both cases, the experience was ruined by other audience members just being disrespectful. All around me, people were on their phones, they were talking, and they were making fun of what was happening on screen. I remember one teenager even had headphones on and was listening to something else entirely. I was like: “Holy crap! How short can your attention span possibly be?”
After those experiences, I was kind of terrified about the implications it had for Longlegs. I was thinking: “Oh my god, are people going to be talking all the way through our movie?”
Luckily, the couple of times I’ve been to see it that hasn’t happened. I guess there’s enough tension to keep people off their phones. Which is a huge win for me. But you’re right, it was totally a gamble to have it be so quiet in the first place. It could have easily backfired.
BD: And was it your decision to take that risk or did the direction come from Oz?
EB: Everything related to sound was in my creative control, yes, but the director is the one who makes the ultimate call when it comes to approving the final mix. I think, in this case, it was just a coincidence that Oz and I have similar tastes. I’d obviously seen his previous works and was a huge fan of The Blackcoat’s Daughter and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. So, I knew he was into his quieter, more subdued stuff and approached it with that style in mind.
Like him, I want you to be able to hear the details of every individual floorboard creek and footstep. I don’t want them drowned out by music or ambient noise.
From a horror perspective, that quiet also lulls you into a false sense of security and makes you vulnerable to the next big hit. There aren’t many [jolts] in Longlegs but that only makes the couple we did sneak in all the more effective.
BD: Yeah, it’s pretty light on jump scares isn’t it? How did that impact your work as a sound designer?
EB: It was all about me doing my own thing and my primary focus was the mind control element. Strangely enough, one of my biggest influences in that respect was actually ASMR. I wanted to try and distil the hypnotic effect that people get from that; only here it is much less relaxing and far more unsettling!
Oz was also very adamant about not doing those horror tropes like jump scares. He loves the genre but doesn’t watch many contemporary releases. He just has zero interest. As such, he doesn’t really give you any horror reference points to try and emulate. Instead, he likes to make his films rich on other, outside influences –
BD: Like rock n’ roll?
EB: Exactly! He always emphasized that this was, at its core, a rock n’ roll movie and a story about mothers. But he never once labelled it “horror” or mentioned the Devil when describing what he was going for. Which made me tackle things in an altogether different way.
BD: Do you have any examples of how his unusual steer influenced the direction you took?
EB: One that springs immediately to mind is that the movie is full of gongs because of what Oz said! [The T-Rex track] Bang a Gong is quite a big part of Longlegs as you’ll know. The film opens with a quote from its lyrics and then ends with it playing over the credits. So, I thought it made sense to include a bunch of gong sounds throughout. I then reversed these, and it resulted in a strange humming noise that [characterises] the frequency of those metal ball bearings inside the dolls.
[The rock n’ roll idea] also influenced how I approached the character of Longlegs himself. When Nick Cage is going nuts and singing, Oz wanted him to sound “glam,” rather than demonic. It was one of the hardest challenges for me to figure out, because I wasn’t sure if that meant I needed to add reverb, delay or what.
In the end, I found this cool electric guitar and I pitched it to [Nick’s] voice whenever he’s going into that super high register. It makes it sound like he’s tapping into some crazy satanic vibe.
BD: As we just discussed, I had the privilege of watching this in a cinema with near-perfect conditions. Over the speakers, I could hear every ambient hum and ominous whisper. But I’m curious if that’s the target audience you have in mind when you’re putting together the audio mix for a film nowadays, or if you have to cater more to those watching at home or on streaming?
EB: I definitely think about the TV, but it’s the last thing I do. In music, we have this thing called “the car test” [whereby recordists use the sound system of a car radio to do a final pass on their track, making sure it works in every possible environment]. For me, working in the film industry, the equivalent of that is “the TV test.”
The thing is, I personally love watching movies with headphones. To me, that’s the optimal experience. You get great surround, base frequencies and dynamics. So, I kind of develop my mixes with that in mind.
With Longlegs, a lot of the stuff that I recorded on my mic [like rubbing the windscreen with a towel or the reversed whispering] are stereo effects. You can only truly appreciate that with headphones on, as it makes those noises sound like they are enveloping you and coming from behind.
BD: I’ve gotta say, I think that would be unbearably tense. Watching this film alone at night, with your creepy audio being piped directly into my ear, would be pure nightmare fuel.
EB: That’s what I mean! These horror films can work on the big screen for sure — Paranormal Activity scared the shit out of me in the theater — but they can be absolutely heart-stopping when you’re got headphones on.
And I think that’s true of Longlegs. It really is a whole new experience if you listen to our movie with headphones. I’m stoked for people to have that opportunity when it releases at home.
The post The Hell Heartbeat: ‘Longlegs’ Sound Designer Eugenio Battaglia Reveals Hidden Messages & More [Interview] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.