Filmmaker Osgood “Oz” Perkins has a fascinating family history, which he reckons with in his own work, most recently “The Monkey.” In his latest film, a teenage boy attempts to map out a family tree that his father is reluctant to share, and if you do any research into Perkins’ own family tree, you’ll turn up a rich web of film history through his actor parents and extended family.
So after “The Monkey,” you’ll want to check out the rest of Perkins’ work as a filmmaker and sometimes actor, as well as some of the iconic films featuring his family members.
Firstly, Perkins got his start as an actor, making his debut at the age of 6 with his father Anthony Perkins in “Psycho II,” arriving 23 years after Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” made Anthony Perkins a star in 1960. The film takes place after Norman Bates has been released from a mental institution and returns to his home behind the Bates Motel. Oz Perkins plays the younger version of his father’s iconic character. Rent “Pyscho” and “Psycho II” on all platforms.
Perkins also memorably appeared in the 2001 rom-com “Legally Blonde” as “Dorky David,” a law school classmate of Reese Witherspoon’s Elle Woods. In fact, he claims to be recognized most often for this role. Stream “Legally Blonde” on Prime Video or rent it on iTunes.
His mother, Berry Berenson, was also an actor (and the granddaughter of legendary fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli). She appeared in Paul Schrader’s 1982 erotic thriller “Cat People” (a remake of the 1942 film), which is available for rent on all platforms. She also co-starred with her husband Perkins in the 1978 Alan Rudolph thriller “Remember My Name” opposite Geraldine Chaplin, but that one is hard to find on streaming.
Perkins’ aunt, Marisa Berenson, co-starred in the award-winning Bob Fosse film “Cabaret” as Natalia Landauer (it’s streaming on Tubi or rent it elsewhere) and also in the 1971 Luchino Visconti film “Death in Venice” based on the Thomas Mann novel (rent it on all platforms).
But Perkins has made his own name for himself as a director, starting with his debut in 2015, “The Blackcoat’s Daughter,” a chilly psychological horror thriller set in a New England boarding school, starring Kiernan Shipka, Emma Roberts and Lucy Boynton, available for rent on all platforms.
Maika Monroe stars in “Longlegs,” directed by Osgood “Oz” Perkins (Neon/TNS)
He followed that up with the 2016 film “I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House,” starring Ruth Wilson and Paula Prentiss, which is available to stream on Netflix. He took on a familiar fairy tale with his 2020 film “Gretel & Hansel” in 2020 (rent on all platforms), but 2024 was Perkins’ breakout year with the creepy satanic thriller by way of “Silence of the Lambs,” “Longlegs,” starring Maika Monroe as a clairvoyant FBI agent and Nicolas Cage in an unrecognizable and operatic performance as one of the creepiest boogeymen in some time. Stream it on Hulu or rent it on other platforms.
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