Osgood Perkins has been on a real winning streak lately, with the massive success of Longlegs and The Monkey. His multi-picture deal with NEON has paid off so far. The director’s latest, Keeper, contains some of the most chilling imagery out of any horror film this year. Perkins spins a dark fairytale and a warning about toxic relationships. Yet, for all of the frightening imagery, the movie feels a bit too paper-thin, especially in its second half.
Keeper stars Tatiana Maslany as big city girl Liz and Rossif Sutherland as her boyfriend Malcolm. Hoping for a romantic weekend, Malcolm takes Liz to his remote cabin in the woods, and well, because this is a horror movie, things go horribly, horribly wrong. Before the horror kicks into overdrive, Perkins spends some time with Liz and Malcolm, and I’d argue the film’s first act may be its strongest. There’s unspoken tension between the two, though the source of it isn’t quite clear. Maybe it’s simply the different lifestyles and Liz’s love of big cities. Maybe she simply distrusts men. Regardless, she doesn’t fully embrace Malcolm, and this is most evident when they’re alone together, be it sipping wine over dinner or driving to the cabin. Something about the relationship feels off, though the source of Liz’s suspicion isn’t quite clear. Malcolm seems like a sweet enough guy.
The film enters typical Perkins territory once Malcolm’s reclusive cousin Darren (Birkett Turton) shows up, with an Eastern European girlfriend who Darren claims doesn’t speak English. This deepens Liz’s discomfort and rightfully so, especially when she warns Liz that the chocolate cake Malcolm purchased for her “tastes like shit.” Yet, once Darren and his latest arm candy leave, Liz devours the cake, even though she tells Malcolm that she hates chocolate.
At that point, the film gets really weird, even by Perkins’ standards. It feels like a fever dream into hell, as Liz grows increasingly paranoid and continually sees strange women in the background or out of the corner of her eye. Even worse, Malcolm, a doctor, claims he has to return to the city to suddenly see a patient, leaving Liz alone with her hallucinations and creepy cousin Darren next door.
By the film’s second half, Perkins barrages viewers with a series of unsettling imagery and a brooding atmosphere. There’s even a woman with multiple faces crawling around in the basement. Trust me, you don’t want her to remove that bag from her head. The film also edges dark fairytale territory once the source of the scares is explained, all involving Malcolm. This is where the film falters. The lore isn’t built up enough and some of it comes across as too absurd, even for a horror movie. The film works better when it’s more grounded in reality and when Perkins explores the growing tension between Liz and Malcolm. The film’s main weak point is the script, penned by Nick Lepard. There’s too much explanation suddenly crammed into the film’s second half, and a lot of it is given by one of Malcolm’s monologues.
All of that aside, the film does ramp up to quite a great ending. I’ll never be able to look at honey the same way again. Overall, Keeper isn’t quite as strong as Perkins’ last few films, or even his earlier work, like The Blackcoat’s Daughter, but it continues to prove he’s one of the most effective directors at creating nightmarish sequences and atmospheres that invoke dread. Keeper succeeds when it’s more based in reality and explores a strained relationship. Its second half is hampered by poor explanation and weaker writing.
Keeper is currently playing in theaters.
Brian Fanelli 