Keeper review

KEEPER: 

OSGOOD PERKINS’ BUMPY DESCENT INTO MADNESS! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

NEON

Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland in Keeper

 

            An anniversary weekend turns into a nightmare in Keeper, the new horror film from director Osgood Perkins (Gretel & Hansel, Longlegs, The Monkey). I was curious to see this movie; I loved both Longlegs and The Monkey and Perkins seemed like a new voice for horror judging by those two films with this being the second film of his released in 2025 after The Monkey. 

            So, I went and watched the movie and…boy, are there things to say about this film! I admire Perkins’ ambition behind the film and his reliance on atmospheric horror mixed with dark humor, but coming off of his previous efforts, this is the weakest of his work in terms of story and characters. 

            The film follows Liz (Tatiana Maslany-Orphan Black, Destroyer, The Monkey) and her doctor boyfriend, Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland-ER, Reign, Orphan: First Kill) going on a weekend trip to a secluded cabin in the woods for their one-year anniversary. However, Liz begins to notice strange things occurring in the cabin and a dark, terrifying secret about it. 

            The film also stars Kett Turton (Saved!, Blade: Trinity, iZombie) as Malcolm’s brother Darren Westbridge. 

            Overall, Keeper definitely deserves points for being an unsettling and downright bizarre horror movie with some genuinely suspenseful sequences throughout, but there really isn’t much outside of that. The movie just kinda hits every beat from other cabin-themed horror movies and you can piece together exactly where it’s going to go, but with a director like Osgood Perkins helming it, even when he does derivative things, he’ll do it in a crazy fucking way. 

            There’s tons of creepy imagery in the film and solid buildup to the scares with Tatiana Maslany being perfectly cast as a woman who’s clearly on-edge when all the supernatural stuff starts occurring. But then, the film ultimately leads to this last act in which all Hell breaks loose that is absolutely chaotic and left me with similar feelings as the ending of Chris Stuckmann’s film, Shelby Oaks (Which I did really like for the most part). 

I guess it doesn’t surprise me that the reactions to this film are very polarizing now that I’ve seen it (Hell, IMDBgave The Monkey a pretty abysmal rating which I find ridiculous!), but there is plenty to admire about it. The movie is still well-made with good camera work, chilling sound design, and atmospheric scares that leave you on the edge of your seat, Perkins didn’t half-ass this film in terms of the craftsmanship. 

However, as great as Tatiana Maslany is in this movie, I didn’t find her character to be nearly as compelling as Maika Monroe from Longlegs or both Theo James performances from The Monkey. Her performance is solid as a woman losing her mind over creepy things in the cabin and nobody believes her, but she doesn’t have much of a character here nor is there much time devoted to her and Rossif Sutherland’s Malcolm’s relationship which was kind of what kicked the plot off.

You could argue that maybe she’s supposed to be a blank slate where you imagine yourself as her in this creepy situation, but I wish her character was more fleshed out. I will say it was gleefully bizarre seeing Tatiana Maslany pigging out on a chocolate cake made from the secret ingredient Octavia Spencer uses in pies, but I digress. 

Rossif Sutherland also gives a strong performance as Liz’s boyfriend, Malcolm, but he is like the ultimate red flag character in a horror movie. Without going into spoilers, he is mysteriously absent for a large chunk of the movie and from his mannerisms and the way he speaks, he is clearly hiding something from her, that’s all I’ll say. 

Keeper is certainly the black sheep in Osgood Perkins’ filmography and while without a doubt it heavily pales in comparison to Longlegs and The Monkey, it’s an ambitious and well-crafted horror movie with effective scares and atmosphere. I may not have loved this movie, but in this era of constant assembly line movies cranked out by committees that play it safe, we need more risks taken in the film industry and directors to bring their visions no matter how unhinged to the screen.