Keeper, 2025.
Directed by Osgood Perkins.
Starring Tatiana Maslany, Rossif Sutherland, Birkett Turton, Eden Weiss, Logan Pierce, Claire Friesen, Christin Park, Tess Degenstein, Glen Gordon, Erin Boyes, Erin Tipple, Gina Vultaggio, Evelyn Burke, and Ella Wejr.
SYNOPSIS:
A romantic anniversary trip to a secluded cabin turns sinister when a dark presence reveals itself, forcing a couple to confront the property’s haunting past.
Keeper is certainly a return to form for horror director Osgood Perkins, but not necessarily in the sense of quality. And while I’m not one to draw parallels to past films, in this case it’s hard not to, considering that Neon apparently has the filmmaker at gunpoint, directing a different style of chiller every six months. Each has been unlike the last, which is an impressive feat since, for example, Longlegs is already a blend of multiple scare tactics and genre elements. At this point, the son of Anthony Perkins feels like he is simply challenging his technical prowess as a filmmaker (there are several dissolves, reflections, mirages, fractures, and other stylistic cinematographic choices, working with DP Jeremy Cox, that play into themes of identity and individuality).
Excluding The Monkey (which clearly has a personal connection regarding the grief and thought process surrounding the tragic loss of both of his parents), this also means that Osgood Perkins often feels at a distance from the stories he is telling (the screenplay here comes from Nick Lepard). Or perhaps this is just him as a naturally cold storyteller. Whatever the case may be, some of these films are beginning to feel rushed, as if Osgood Perkins is cranking them out to elevate and expand upon his formal and technical craftsmanship. The imagery is striking and the atmosphere is as eerily foreboding as always, but what it’s in service to (an undercooked chamber piece about relationships and losing a sense of self within such a dynamic) feels flat.
Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland) has taken his girlfriend, Liz (Tatiana Maslany, sensational at eliciting fright), to his remote family cabin in the woods. This surprises her longtime friend, as Liz is a city woman not made for the country, which could also be the first sign of cracking and losing a part of herself in this relationship. Even worse, Malcolm doesn’t seem too concerned with pleasuring Liz, who does envision having a family one day and is throwing herself at him sexually (whether or not this has been an ongoing conversation within the relationship, and why they are together if they have different wants here is anyone’s guess, but it’s necessary for the story).
Although Malcolm assures Liz that the area is mostly abandoned with no other company, it turns out that there is a mysterious property caretaker who has baked and left a cake. Furthermore, Malcolm’s shallow, egotistical cousin Darren (Birkett Turton) lives across the road with his latest exotic, non-English-speaking girlfriend (Eden Weiss), who clearly doesn’t actually like him and is using the situation to her convenience. After an awkward dinner together and night falls, Liz questions whether some of Malcolm’s cousin’s hollowness exists within him, and whether his kindness is all a façade.
The next morning, the situation gets weirder with Malcolm, a doctor, nervously announcing to Liz that he has to temporarily return to the city to check on a dying patient whose family is in hysterics. Not only is there something off about this boyfriend, but there is something uncomfortably creepy about this cabin; there are strange, pained moans faintly heard from within the walls when all is silent, a locket is found in a nearby creek (the prologue teases that whatever is happening here dates back to the land’s past), and Liz starts seeing various figures (a woman with a bag over her head) and other supernatural figures (which is her breaking point and pushes her to want to go home). It’s also worth mentioning that these bizarre occurrences start after giving in to a slice of the previously mentioned chocolate cake, which harbors a sinister secret.
Bear in mind that while some filmmakers have described Keeper as “like a surreal David Lynch film”, there are explicit answers as to what is going on, directly told in expository detail. That reveal is also somewhat lame, familiar, and deflating; you can feel the otherwise outstanding performance by Tatiana Maslany lessening in effectiveness with the shoulder-shrugging story turns. Osgood Perkins does admittedly regain control for a darkly funny ending, but one that still doesn’t snap the whole narrative into a rich and rewarding experience. In other words, it’s not a keeper, even if Osgood Perkins remains an engaging craftsman who understands lulling, creepy atmosphere.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
